"[10] Leitch and colleagues describe the approach similarly as "working with small gradations of traumatic activation alternated with the use of bodily resources.
"[13] One of the first exposure therapies, systematic desensitization, which Joseph Wolpe developed in the 1940s to treat anxiety disorders and phobias, is similarly described.
[14] Wolpe's systematic desensitization "consists of exposing the patient, while in a state of emotional calmness, to a small 'dose' of something he fears" using imaginal methods that allow the therapist to "control precisely the beginning and ending of each presentation".
Wolpe also relied on relaxation responses alternating with incremental or graduated exposure to anxiety-provoking stimuli, and this practice was standard within cognitive-behavioral protocols long before somatic experiencing was trademarked in 1989.
[16] One element of somatic experiencing therapy is "pendulation",[3]: 255 a supposed natural intrinsic rhythm of the organism between contraction and expansion.
[17] Alexander Lowen and John Pierrakos, both psychiatrists, built upon Reich's foundational theories, developing Bioenergetics, and also compared the rhythm of this life-force-energy to a pendulum.
"[23] Peter Levin put forth that, during the 1970s, he "developed a model" called "SIBAM",[24] which broke down all experience into five channels of "Sensation, Image, Behavior, Affect and Meaning (or Cognition)."
[25] Multimodal therapy, developed by Arnold Lazarus in the 1970s, is similar to the SIBAM model in that it broke down experience into "Behavior, Affect, Sensation, Image, and Cognition (or Meaning)".
[32] In the Somatic Experiencing method, there is the concept of "coupling dynamics" in which the "under-coupled" state, where the traumatic experience exists, not as a unity but as dissociated elements of the SIBAM.
[38] In Somatic Experiencing therapy, "discharge" is facilitated in response to arousal to enable the client's body to return to a controlled condition.
Discharge may be in the form of tears, a warm sensation, unconscious movement, the ability to breathe easily again, or other responses that demonstrate the autonomic nervous system returning to its baseline.
[41] Levine's predecessors in the somatic psychotherapy field clearly understood the dynamics of shock trauma and the failure of mobilization of fight or flight impulses in creating symptoms of anxiety neuroses and to maintain a chronic "state of emergency".
Neurophysiological studies have shown that the dorsal motor nucleus has little to do with traumatic or psychologically related heart rate responses.
In shamanism, it is believed that when a person is overwhelmed by tragedy, his soul will leave his body, a belief which is concordant with our present understanding of dissociation.
[48] After reportedly having a "profound" dream Peter Levine believed he had been "assigned" the task "to protect this ancient knowledge from the Celtic Stone Age temples, and the Tibetan tradition, and to bring it to the scientific Western way of looking at things..."[49] A 2019 systemic literature review noted that a stronger investment in clinical trials was needed to determine the efficacy of Somatic Experiencing.
[50] A 2021 literature review noted that "SE attracts growing interest in clinical application despite the lack of empirical research.
[52] Members of the Federation each have a professional regulating body with an enforceable code of ethics and standards of practice, continuing education requirements, a process of certifying and ensuring competency and a minimum of 500 hours of training.
While the model has a growing evidence base as a modality "for treating people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)" that "integrates body awareness into the psychotherapeutic process", it is important to note that not all Somatic Experiencing practitioners practice psychotherapy and therefore have varying scopes of practice, for example, not all are qualified to work with people with mental disorders.
[53][54] SE instructs participants that they "are responsible for operating within their professional scope of practice and for abiding by state and federal laws".
[56] In his book Waking the Tiger, Levine estimates that a hundred million Americans experienced childhood sexual and physical abuse.