Somatic Experiencing

Domain IV · Body-oriented psychotherapy · Peter A. Levine · 1989

What it is

SE is a body-oriented, "bottom-up" approach to trauma and stress. It works mainly through the client's attention to interoception (inner sensation), proprioception (body position) and kinaesthesis (movement), not through detailed retelling of the event. Its theory of change: trauma is not a…

Format

• SE has no fixed, session-numbered protocol. Levine gives nine building blocks. He says Step 1 must come first and Steps 1–3 follow in sequence. The remaining blocks are not a fixed order: they are drawn on as the session's process needs them. The phase grouping below is an inference from the…
• Every session runs through the same micro-cycle (the order is taken from Payne et al.'s case): observe the client's arrival and nervous-system cues → establish resources and social engagement → invite attention to pleasant or neutral body sensation → approach the trauma indirectly through a…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Version followed: Peter A. Levine's Somatic Experiencing (SE) as set out in his nine "building blocks" for renegotiating trauma (In an Unspoken Voice, 2010), with session-level procedure taken from the composite case in Payne, Levine & Crane-Godreau (2015). Training is run by Somatic Experiencing International (formerly the Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute, traumahealing.org). The SE Practitioner training is…
• SE is a body-oriented, "bottom-up" approach to trauma and stress. It works mainly through the client's attention to interoception (inner sensation), proprioception (body position) and kinaesthesis (movement), not through detailed retelling of the event. Its theory of change: trauma is not a property of the event. It is a lasting dysregulation of the nervous system, in which survival activation (fight, flight, freeze…

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Session count and format. Sessions are individual and usually face to face, with the client seated. In Payne et al. the client chooses the chair. In the Brom et al. (2017) randomised trial, adults with PTSD had 15 weekly SE sessions. Levine's filmed case "Ray" ran over five sessions. Session length…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• imposing your reading on the client. Drop observations they do not recognise.
• freezing, people-pleasing or consent that seems automatic (common after interpersonal trauma). Stop and go back to talk and self-touch.
• interpretation coming too early, which pulls the client out of sensation. It is working if a new meaning arises from the client and fits the felt shift.
• the client apologising or feeling they "failed". Normalise it. It is working if breath slows, eye contact returns, and the client can say where they are.
• clients leaving still activated or spaced out. Extend the closing, or arrange a check-in. It is working if the client leaves oriented and can name one resource to use.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.