Did you know your body can somaticize stress? What does that mean? Somatization is when psychological or emotional stress manifests as pain that you can physically feel in your body. In a more physiological sense, this means your body automatically tenses up to guard the body against pain and injury.  For instance, chronic aches and pains can definitely be an indication of mental burnout. 

What is a somatic experience? 

To exemplify a somatic experience, consider your psoas muscles contracting and releasing when you’re in a fight or flight situation.  This could manifest as lower lumbar pain (lower back), and it could even manifest as chronic GI symptoms since cortisol (stress hormone) can affect the gut lining. 

However, there is a therapeutic approach known as “Somatic therapy” that seeks to address mental and emotional stress by addressing the body first – kind of like working backward. 

Amanda Baker, director of the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders and a clinical psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital says "Somatic therapies posit that our body holds and expresses experiences and emotions, and traumatic events or unresolved emotional issues can become 'trapped' inside." 

“A somatic therapist helps people release damaging, pent-up emotions in their bodies by using various mind-body techniques. These can vary widely, ranging from acupressure, breathwork, and even dance.”

One of the most notable features of somatic therapy is the aspect of “body awareness,” which encourages people to recognize and focus on tension spots. Although focusing on discomfort can seem unpalatable, somatic therapy argues that conversely, doing so can help us to release discomfort by first tapping into it. In a world where distractions and tools for dissociation are readily available to us, somatic therapy wants patients to be present in their anxiety or burnout rather than ignore it. Somatic therapy does not want us to normalize it or see exhaustion as something commendable. 

Admittedly, tapping into our emotions can be a challenging process. It’s common to feel cut off from them or as if they are inaccessible. The everyday demands of life often lead to a deprioritization of self-care and awareness. However, somatic therapy uses body awareness to tap into the emotion. For instance, if you were to increase your awareness of the ache in your neck and why it might be happening, this might lead you to take action, address it, or release it. 

The National Institute of Neurology states that  “the biological function of pain is to act as a protective warning signal, alerting the body to potential tissue damage or harm, prompting the individual to take action to avoid further injury and facilitate healing.”

Thus, somatic therapy asserts that “pushing past the pain” is often counterintuitive and can lead to chronic illness since we are overriding our body’s signals and failing to take action. 

Is exercise somatic therapy?

Exercise can serve as a function of somatic therapy, but mindfulness is an integral part of somatic therapy. A large part of it would be the mindset you have as you exercise. While many fitness ideologies hone in on fortitude, endurance, and resilience, somatic therapy centers on self-compassion, self-acknowledgment, and understanding. 

Thus, yoga is a common medium that bridges exercise and somatic therapy. 

What are the clinical outcomes of somatic therapy? Does it work?

Researchers state that the results concerning effectiveness and method-specific key factors of Somatic therapy are promising. Yet, “they require more support from unbiased RCT-research (randomized control).” This, “future research should focus on filling this gap.”

So anecdotally, a multitude of people truly believe in the power of somatic therapy and claim that it has powerful results. However, clinicians say that although somatic therapy is a promising approach, more research is needed for its results to be considered definite. 

Approaches such as DBT and CBT have been more thoroughly researched and have been proven by the psychiatric and neuroscience community. To explore more of these options, you can check out Better Help. 

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