About SE/SRT

Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a short-term naturalistic approach to the resolution and healing of trauma developed by Dr. Peter Levine (www.traumahealing.com). It recognizes the limits of talk therapy and other treatment modalities that use catharsis and other activating techniques in order to “discharge” traumatic material. Such stimulating techniques may offer temporary relief, but because they do not address the underlying physiological effect of trauma on the body, their benefits are rarely long-term. Moreover, these more activating approaches, in their lack of a complete understanding of trauma’s impact on the brain, can overwhelm the nervous system and re-traumatize rather than heal.

In contrast, SE makes it unnecessary to relive a trauma. The approach helps “renegotiate” patterns of arousal and anxiety by carefully supporting the body’s natural ability to release over-activation. By combining and interweaving elements of a trauma with strengths and resources that were unavailable at the time of the event, a new, complete and more empowering experience is created. It is this “renegotiating” rather than “reliving” that allows trauma survivors to move from being stuck in rage, helplessness, and anxiety to the fluid experience of empowerment, peace, and resiliency. It is this completion that not only transforms the “present” trauma but also strengthens and builds resistance to future traumas.

This is what Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, a leading medical doctor, scientific researcher, and teacher in the field of trauma had to say about Dr. Levine’s SE approach:

“The core of the disorder of PTSD is the lack of capacity to be here. Verbal meaning-making is a secondary part of what patients need to benefit from. Peter Levine is one of the masters in helping people to move through physical experience and gain the mastery that traditional psychotherapy was unable to help people with. Therapy needs to consist of helping people to be in their bodies and to understand their bodily sensations. And that is certainly not something that any of the traditional psychotherapies have helped people to do very well.”

I use and explain the term “Self-Regulation Therapy” or SRT in my book, “Why Students Underachieve: What Educators and Parents Can Do about It.” SRT is the term I use to refer to the adaptation of SE for use in schools with students of all ages.