Beyond Talk: Why Somatic Therapy Works

For many people who live with the echoes of trauma, traditional talk therapies can feel like trying to think their way out of an experience that was never cognitive to begin with. Research has shown that approaches such as cognitive-behavioural and exposure-based therapies don’t always ease post-traumatic stress, as they require substantial cognitive processing. Trauma itself disrupts the very parts of the brain that handle reasoning, language, and memory (Mujica-Parodi et al., 2004; Van der Kolk, 2016).

Exposure-based therapies can also feel so overwhelming that many people drop out (Lewis et al., 2020).

In contrast, bottom-up approaches begin with the body and the nervous system — the places where trauma is first held. They work through the brainstem and limbic system, our survival centres, and gradually move upwards to higher cortical systems (Levine, 1997; Van der Kolk, 2016). In this way, somatic therapy helps to release what has been stuck, creating space for healing that can complement insight-oriented therapies.

At its heart, somatic therapy recognises that sensations — often below conscious awareness — are the foundation of our emotions and thoughts. Before we can name a feeling, our body has already registered it. Therapy invites us to bring awareness to these signals, offering powerful tools for regulation, resilience, and transformation. This is sometimes called the felt sense, or interoception — our perception of inner bodily states. Research suggests that strengthening interoceptive awareness can help re-pattern trauma responses and restore presence, agency, and well-being.

One of the most researched body-based approaches is Somatic Experiencing® (SE), developed by Peter Levine. SE understands that trauma symptoms arise not from the event itself, but from the body’s incomplete defensive responses. When fight, flight, or freeze cannot be completed, the nervous system remains caught in survival mode, leaving people chronically on edge, numb, or overwhelmed (Levine, 1997).

SE guides people to gently notice their inner sensations — the small shifts, the breath, the cues of safety. By building tolerance for these experiences, alongside balancing resources such as positive memories or pleasant bodily sensations, the nervous system finds new pathways for release and regulation (Payne et al., 2015). What makes SE unique is that it does not require reliving the full trauma story. Instead, memories are approached in small, manageable ways, while the focus remains on the body’s present-moment responses. The aim is not re-exposure, but renegotiation — creating corrective bodily experiences that replace helplessness with resilience (Levine, 2010; Brom et al., 2017).

Research shows that by working slowly and safely with the nervous system, SE helps reduce arousal and distress tied to trauma — often where purely cognitive methods cannot reach.

If you’ve ever felt like talking about what happened left you stuck, or that your body still carries what your mind has long tried to forget — somatic therapy might be the path you’ve been searching for. It offers not just relief, but a return: a way of coming home to yourself, gently, step by step.

Reflection

As you finish reading, perhaps pause for a moment. Take a gentle breath in… and let it out slowly. Notice the way your body feels right now. This simple act of awareness is the very beginning of somatic healing — one small step home to yourself.

References

Brom, D., Stokar, Y., Lawi, C., Nuriel-Porat, V., Ziv, Y., Lerner, K., & Ross, G. (2017). Somatic Experiencing for posttraumatic stress disorder: A randomized controlled outcome study. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 30(3), 304–312. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22189

Kuhfuß M, Maldei T, Hetmanek A, Baumann N. Somatic experiencing - effectiveness and key factors of a body-oriented trauma therapy: a scoping literature review. Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2021 Jul 12;12(1):1929023. doi: 10.1080/20008198.2021.1929023. PMID: 34290845; PMCID: PMC8276649.

Levine, P. A. (1997). Waking the tiger: Healing trauma. North Atlantic Books.

Levine, P. A. (2010). In an unspoken voice: How the body releases trauma and restores goodness. North Atlantic Books.

Lewis, C., Roberts, N. P., Andrew, M., Starling, E. J., & Bisson, J. I. (2020). Dropout from psychological therapies for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adults: Systematic review and meta-analysis. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 11(1), 1709709. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2019.1709709

Mujica-Parodi, L. R., Carlson, J. M., Cha, J., Rubin, D., & Mujica-Parodi, C. (2004). Limbic dysregulation is associated with lowered heart rate variability and increased trait anxiety in healthy adults. Biological Psychiatry, 55(6), 537–543. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2003.09.012

Nicholson, W. C., Sapp, M., Karas, E. M., Duva, I. M., & Grabbe, L. (2025). The Body Can Balance the Score: Using a Somatic Self-Care Intervention to Support Well-Being and Promote Healing. Healthcare, 13(11), 1258. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13111258

Payne, P., Levine, P. A., & Crane-Godreau, M. A. (2015). Somatic experiencing: Using interoception and proprioception as core elements of trauma therapy. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 93. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00093

Van der Kolk, B. A. (2014/2016). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Penguin Books.