Whether you are a practitioner of Somatic Psychology or a patient, this therapy will have huge impact on your life. This branch of psychology is based on the theory that everything that happens in life has a deep rooted impact on our well being. When something negative happens to us, such as an accident, heartbreak, death of someone we love etc. it results in trauma. Our mind tends to keep hold of that trauma and even though you might feel that you are okay, this trauma could be affecting you and causing physical problems whose cause you can’t find.
What it does
The goal of this therapy is to release physical tension that has been caused by a traumatic event. The approach differs from therapist to therapist and patient to patient. The severity of the condition will be the determining factor on how to handle the case. Depression seems to be one of the most common results of trauma. And even though medication can help to a certain level, until the root cause is determined and eliminated, depression will continue to stalk the patient.
This form of therapy focuses on emotion and its mastery. If a patient is able to gain control over his or her emotion, then he or she can examine and change the emotion attached to the traumatic event thus relieving the emotional stress.
It has been seen that most people tend to disavow or shun the memories of a traumatic event or the emotions attached to that event. This can have a very negative impact as ignoring the problem basically means that the mind doesn’t get a chance to heal.
How can it help
Though the basic tenet of somatic psychology is the release of tension, it can achieve this goal in many different ways. It can help the patient gain increased self awareness, emotional stability and vitality. Nowadays when people are losing touch with themselves owing to a busy lifestyle, somatic therapy can help a person discover themselves and explore their strengths and weaknesses which can go a long way in restoring one’s confidence and hope.
As a career choice
This kind of therapy is becoming very popular because of the positive results that many have experienced. Many reputable colleges and universities are including Somatic Psychology as a part of their Psychology curriculum, whereas many others have already set up separate classes for this specific branch of psychology. This is a great career choice if you wish to do something positive for people and especially if you want to help patients who have suffered immense trauma in their life and are still suffering from the aftereffects.
Somatic psychology incorporates many elements that are borrowed from other branches of psychology but the core theory is that the mind and the body are very closely linked and mental trauma and stress can manifest as physical symptoms like pain, digestive trouble, and migraine among others. In most cases physicians will fail to find any cause for these symptoms and the only recourse for the patient would be therapy.