WHEN TO USE SOMATIC THERAPY VS TALK THERAPY

Transcript

when should we use somatic therapy instead of talk therapy well let's first go over what is somatic therapy and talk therapy so talk therapy is often used when something is dysfunctional or when we need to figure something out or process something and we need help making the best decision for us right somatic therapy is actually less cognitive somatic therapy is when we are suffering physiologically and within the body so if we think about hey I've been having difficulty sleeping or eating properly or I've been having difficulty with anxiety or I've been having difficulty with back pain so anything that involves our body right I've been having large emotions so uh I feel large emotions in my chest or tightness in my chest or I feel grief or rage or anger or intense sadness these things are things we can feel so when we tap into talk therapy it's important for how we can make better decisions or how we can understand some things and we can bounce ideas off of a therapist talk therapy often includes CBT which is like hey what is the evidence uh that I can find so that I can start thinking a little bit differently about my surroundings so an Evidence of whether I should get angry or not get angry well what is the evidence uh around me supporting my reasoning for doing things right that's just a very slight small explanation on CBT and talk therapy when it comes to somatic therapy it's as we described before its Sensations its feelings its emotions it's addressing those big things that are really rattling our body and on and conversely On The Other Extreme it's also addressing numbness and dissociation so it's when our body is involved in this trauma response when we want to use talk therapy and CB it's always a good idea to use both so that's when we're looking to process something verbally to understand something differently to think about things differently to reframe things that's when we want to use talk therapy we want to use somatic therapies when we want to address what's really going on in our body and we'll notice that new ideas and ways of feeling and thinking about things will also come up when we have an experience with somatic therapy so a small somatic exercise might be hey where do you feel the heaviest or the most intensely within your body right now you might say well maybe my brain maybe my head maybe my eyes maybe my chest and whichever part of your body that's coming up in you can use your two hands to support that and you can also use not only your hands but your words to say how can I describe this feeling is it heavy is it deep is it superficial is it tight uh does it have an emotion associated with it does it have a color associated with it maybe the emotion is sadness or anger maybe the color is red or blue and as we continue to feel deeply feel into that space within the body we'll notice memories and Concepts and different things coming up that our body is communicating to us which is being stored within that are area and that's how we work directly with the body a somatic therapist might also invite you to touch into that part of your body and then to focus on something external and outside of your body that is a bit less charged or they might ask you hey uh I noticed that there's a heavy part of your body maybe you want to focus right now on a lighter part of your body like your hair or your nose and so that's also using different aspects of somatic therapies like pendulation or like increasing our tolerance for feeling certain emotions or feelings or Sensations so this is a huge question I've touched very slightly on two really large topics but I do think I've responded to the general question of when can we use somatic therapies versus talk therapy and the response really is it's awesome if we can do both and specifically using somatic Therapies when we are really wanting to work with heavy or deep or different types of emotions and feelings that we can sense within the body and ultimately doing these things with somatic therapies helps us to be able to process trauma in a different way where however we are feeling we are able to shift in and out of heavier and lighter emotions more seamlessly and we are also able to accommodate new updated emotions that maybe before we weren't able to such as trust or safety I hope that shed some light on these two huge topics thank you for joining me today and see you again soon