Somatic Therapy as an Integration within the ShiftGrit Core Method™
Overview
Somatic therapy is a body-centred approach to psychotherapy that treats physical sensation, posture, movement, and nervous-system arousal as primary material for addressing psychological distress, particularly trauma. It rests on the premise that stressful and traumatic experience is registered and held in the body and that working directly with bodily awareness, rather than verbal or cognitive content alone, can support recovery.
How it works
In practice, the therapist guides the client to notice interoceptive cues such as tension, breathing, heart rate, and the felt sense of the body, often pacing attention slowly between distress and states of relative calm to keep arousal within a tolerable range. Many somatic methods aim to help the nervous system complete or discharge defensive survival responses that were interrupted during a threatening event, using techniques such as tracking sensation, grounding, titration, and mindful movement rather than detailed retelling of the traumatic memory.
What it is used for
Somatic approaches are used most often for post-traumatic stress and the after-effects of single-incident and developmental or attachment trauma, and are also applied to anxiety, depression, chronic stress, and conditions involving comorbid chronic pain. Controlled research has been concentrated on post-traumatic stress disorder, with additional study of trauma-related symptoms accompanying chronic pain presentations.
Origins and evidence base
Two of the most established body-oriented models are Somatic Experiencing, developed by Peter Levine beginning in the 1970s, and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, developed by Pat Ogden in the 1980s, both drawing on trauma theory, attachment theory, and observations of the body's stress physiology. The empirical base is still emerging: the first randomized controlled trial of Somatic Experiencing for PTSD was a waitlist-controlled study by Brom and colleagues in 2017, reporting large effects on post-traumatic symptom severity and depression, with a subsequent randomized trial examining brief Somatic Experiencing for chronic low back pain and comorbid PTSD symptoms; the overall evidence remains limited in volume relative to longer-established therapies.
Within the ShiftGrit Core Method™
Sometimes a limiting belief does not announce itself as a thought at all. It lands as a tight chest, a held breath, or a wave of tension that makes a person want to flee, numb out, or shut down, and that physical pull is often what keeps a loop turning. Somatic therapy meets that need directly, giving a client a way to stay with the sensation rather than escape it and helping the body settle. The central, structured course of treatment a client moves through is the full ShiftGrit Core Method™, which works to reach and recondition the belief sitting beneath a pattern through Pattern Theory™ and the way our clinicians deliver it. Somatic therapy sits alongside that work as a support rather than a stand-in. Our clinicians may bring it in selectively to extend what the Core Method™ is already doing, never to take its place. By steadying the body, it does not rewrite the belief on its own, but it widens the room a client has to stay present, so the belief underneath becomes easier to reach and recondition through the Method.
Illustrative example
Picture a client whose pattern is built around the limiting belief "I am in danger." When a certain topic comes up, it does not arrive as a thought; it shows up as a tightening chest and a held breath, and the pull is to change the subject or go numb. Here a clinician may use gentle body awareness to help the client notice that tension rise and settle, widening the space in which they can stay present. That steadiness does not change the belief by itself; it makes the body calm enough that the belief underneath can be reached and reconditioned.
Based on: 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. DOI: 10.1002/jts.22189 (PMID 28585761). [source]
Clinicians who integrate Somatic Therapy
If Somatic Therapy is specifically what you are looking for, tell us during matching and we will pair you with a clinician who carries that training. See how we integrate evidence-based modalities within the ShiftGrit Core Method™.
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Find Your PatternTrusted by Leading Psychology & Mental Health Organizations Across Canada
ShiftGrit Psychology & Counselling is professionally regulated, certified, and recognized by leading psychology and mental-health organizations across Canada. These associations reflect our commitment to ethical practice, clinical standards, and evidence-informed therapy through Identity-Level Therapy and Reconditioning.
Trusted By Alberta’s Leading Psychology & Mental Health Organizations
ShiftGrit Psychology & Counselling is professionally regulated, certified, and recognized by leading psychology and mental-health organizations across Alberta and Canada. These associations reflect our commitment to ethical practice, clinical standards, and evidence-informed therapy through Identity-Level Therapy and Reconditioning.
Regulated and affiliated across Alberta’s leading psychology, counselling, and mental-health organizations.
Regulated and affiliated across Canada’s leading psychology, counselling, and mental-health organizations.
The descriptions and examples on this page are provided for general educational and illustrative purposes only. They explain how this approach may be integrated within the ShiftGrit Core Method™ and do not describe a specific client, represent a testimonial, or promise any particular result. Integrated modalities are offered at the discretion of individual clinicians, and whether any approach is appropriate for you is determined together with your clinician, within their professional judgement and scope of practice.
