About Somatic Experiencing | Post Traumatic Stress Disorder | Trauma Healing | Continuing Education For Mental Health Professionals

aloneand afraid: Above is a link to the somatic experiencing website.

I'm sorry you're having such a hard time, especially with your T's questions. Telling her you felt something in your stomach IS an answer. I tell that to my T a lot. SE is about healing trauma by recognizing our feelings, not in our head primarily, but in our body. Our feelings usually show up in some way in our bodies. If we're anxious, we my breather shallower, or hold our breath. We may fidget with our hands and/or our feet. If we're happy, we may feel a warmth all over our bodies.

The premise of SE is that when we release the stress in our bodies the way they seem to want to move, it can heal trauma. Animals in the wild, after being attacked, shake themselves off vigorously and then they go about their business again! That's what Peter Levine based SE on, though I'm simplifying it a lot!

My T believes in mindfulness, and being aware of how I feel, and where I feel it, in the moment, is related to SE. Mindfulness doesn't have to have anything to do with SE, though. It sounds like your T is incorporating some of SE into your work. Can you ask her if she has training in somatic experiencing, and ask her how she thinks it will help you? That's the best way to know what our Ts are doing, though I actually never asked my T specifically how SE will help me. She just says it is good for me.

Back to you. Again, a sick feeling in your stomach IS an answer so you need to tell her that, if you haven't. She asks you because she thinks it can help you. Do you use your brain a lot, think things intellectually? I can tell my T how I feel, but get stuck with where I feel things physically. Do your thoughts go round and round? SE along with mindfulness can ground you, too. My T asks if I feel my legs on the floor, and how do they feel? If I'm anxious all over, she asks if there's any place I don't feel anxious, like my legs? I know it sound a little weird, but our bodies DO tell us a lot. We get "sick to our stomach", we have a "gut feeling", etc. I can't think of more examples at the moment, but you get the idea.

Please ask your T more about her techniques. I hope the website I posted helps too.