Soma refers to the living body. Somatic psychology regards the mind and body as integrated; intelligence, experience, feeling, and emotion occur throughout the body, and do not exist solely in the brain. Western culture has historically been disembodied; that is, the mind has been considered separate from and often superior to the body. This perception estranges us from an essential sense of interconnection, and can often lead to fragmentation and overwhelm, as well as physical and psychological dis-ease. Often it is not until a person's body screams at them, through injury or disease, that they begin to realize the interconnectedness of their mind and body.
Renowned interpersonal neurobiologists such as Daniel Siegel, MD and Louis Cozolino, PhD, demonstrate how early childhood attachment to primary caregivers, for example, establishes a blueprint of our neurochemistry and neurobiology as adults. Bessel van der Kolk, MD, a professor and researcher in the area of posttraumatic stress since the 1970s, explores how trauma rearranges areas of the brain related to pleasure, engagement, control, and trust. This systemic regulation (or dysregulation), is dispersed throughout the body and mind, and is reflected in everything from breathing patterns to posture to stress responses to relationships to how we organize our lives. The way our systems regulate is often regarded as personality and confused as the self.
Dysregulation in the organismic system can manifest as anxiety, depression, and other mental health and physical issues and disorders. Somatic psychotherapy works with the body, mind, emotions, and spirit to support the client in the process of rewiring various systems to restore wholeness, efficiency, freedom, capacity, creativity, authenticity, and connection to the innermost self and to others.
For further information about somatic counseling, Contemporary Reichian Therapy, and how both chronic and acute trauma affect our psychology and physiology, please refer to:
http://www.dschiffphd.com/
https://onbeing.org/programs/bessel-van-der-kolk-how-trauma-lodges-in-the-body/
https://drgabormate.com/
https://www.drdansiegel.com/
Renowned interpersonal neurobiologists such as Daniel Siegel, MD and Louis Cozolino, PhD, demonstrate how early childhood attachment to primary caregivers, for example, establishes a blueprint of our neurochemistry and neurobiology as adults. Bessel van der Kolk, MD, a professor and researcher in the area of posttraumatic stress since the 1970s, explores how trauma rearranges areas of the brain related to pleasure, engagement, control, and trust. This systemic regulation (or dysregulation), is dispersed throughout the body and mind, and is reflected in everything from breathing patterns to posture to stress responses to relationships to how we organize our lives. The way our systems regulate is often regarded as personality and confused as the self.
Dysregulation in the organismic system can manifest as anxiety, depression, and other mental health and physical issues and disorders. Somatic psychotherapy works with the body, mind, emotions, and spirit to support the client in the process of rewiring various systems to restore wholeness, efficiency, freedom, capacity, creativity, authenticity, and connection to the innermost self and to others.
For further information about somatic counseling, Contemporary Reichian Therapy, and how both chronic and acute trauma affect our psychology and physiology, please refer to:
http://www.dschiffphd.com/
https://onbeing.org/programs/bessel-van-der-kolk-how-trauma-lodges-in-the-body/
https://drgabormate.com/
https://www.drdansiegel.com/