How Somatic Therapy Can Help With PTSD

PTSD can be very complex to manage. PTSD often has more than one trigger, and it can cause sufferers to be unable to hold down a job, spend time with friends or family, or even commute to work or walk on busy city streets. Thankfully, if you are suffering from PTSD, you can get help from somatic therapy.

Somatic therapy for PTSD is highly successful for many patients. This is a very flexible treatment modality, and it can allow you to change the way that you interact with stress and your triggers for good. Being able to break the bond between your subconscious fears and daily triggers is key to being able to live a happy and fulfilling life.

What is Somatic Therapy?

Somatic therapy utilizes all kinds of different treatment modalities so that you can get access to the kind of custom treatment plan that you need to improve your mental health. Somatic therapy helps retrain the brain to view stress and triggers differently, and it helps to eliminate the hardwiring aspect of PTSD which makes it hard to manage for many people.

Somatic therapy uses movement, talk therapy, and things like cognitive behavioral therapy to help control and improve the symptoms of PTSD for the long haul. Best of all, somatic therapy techniques can be used in and out of the treatment office, making this a very empowering and effective method of handling stress and PTSD.

Somatic therapy taps into some basic strategies that help everyone who is struggling with anxiety or a busy, stressed mind. Meditation, mind-body connection work, and grounding can all be part of somatic therapy as well. Connecting the body and the mind can be the most important aspect of your PTSD management protocol.

How Does Somatic Therapy Help PTSD Sufferers?

Somatic therapy tackles specific aspects of mental health and can improve PTSD for many patients. PTSD doesn’t have to take over your whole life. You can break the bonds that your subconscious has with your triggers with the help of somatic therapy. These are the common ways that somatic therapy is used to help with PTSD:

1.      Improves Mind-Body Connection

When you are fully aware of the connection between your mind and body, you are much less likely to be unaware of impending triggers and adverse reactions that stimuli are causing for you. Being fully inside your body as you are moving through your day can help you to avoid stress as a whole, which helps control PTSD as well.

Your mind-body connection can be accessed through meditation, cognitive behavioral techniques, and more. Being able to understand your body’s reactions can help you to break the hold that PTSD has over you when you are triggered.

2.      Breathwork to Help With Anxiety

Breathwork is at the core of meditation and mental health. If you are able to slow your breathing and use your breath to control your emotions and your physical responses, you can control your fight or flight reactions to things that happen to you as you move through your daily life.

Breathwork can also help you to release tension in a healthy way. So many people in modern society are anxious at some level at all times, but they don’t realize it. Checking in with your breath can help you to be aware of stress before it completely takes over and makes you have a negative reaction to an event or experience.

3.      Movement Exercises

Modern life leads to lots of sedentary hours each day. We sit still at desks, on the train, or in the car, which is not good for our health or for our mental well-being. Somatic therapy allows you to improve your mental health with movement.  These movements can be simple things like jogging in place or even dancing to help you release tension and give an outlet to your stress.

4.      Resource Identification

Knowing who you can count on for help when you are having a tough time with your mental health can mean the difference between controlling your symptoms or succumbing to them. If you know who to reach out to when you need some help, you will be much less likely to spiral and have an attack that keeps you locked in the house or a state of intense stress.

5.      Creating a Sense of Safety

Ultimately, PTSD is often housed in a sense of danger. Most of us don’t even know when our primal brain kicks in to tell us that we might be in danger. We only realize that something is wrong when we are having a full-on PTSD attack. Creating a sense of safety, comfort, and normalcy around your stressors can help you to overcome them. You will also want to make sure that you lean on the resources that you have identified to help foster your sense of safety and comfort when you need some help and support.

6.      Meditation and Mindfulness

Meditation and mindfulness are healthy for everyone and most of us should make far more time for these practices. If you have PTSD, you likely struggle with anxiety and an inability to calm the subconscious. Meditation and mindfulness can help you to have a quiet mind and to halt the fight or flight process, which can be a key underlying problem in PTSD.

Somatic Therapy Can be a Big Help for PTSD Sufferers

If you experience PTSD symptoms associated with any aspect of your daily life or interactions, you can control these symptoms with the help of somatic therapy. This is a highly effective treatment tool for those with anxiety or PTSD. A somatic therapist can help you discover treatment modalities that will work every day, whether you are with your therapist or on your own.

Controlling your PTSD can be easier than you might think. Somatic therapy can retrain your brain to handle triggers in a more effective and calm way. If you are ready to be free of your PTSD symptoms, you need to reach out to a somatic therapy expert today.