Somatic psychology seeks to describe, explain and understand the nature of embodied consciousness and bridge the Cartesian mind-body dichotomy.
His approach has been influenced by Salvador Ferenczi, a Hungarian neurologist who also studied with Freud and gave insight to Reich to write his book Character Analysis.
In a healthy person the HPA axis ensures that if the threat passes, the cortisol release is stopped which dilutes the stress response.
[9] This bottom-up process focuses on the psycho-physiological consequences of the traumatic event and aims to recalibrate the dysregulation of the bodily responses in an indirect way.
[11] Such bottom-up movements stimulate self-awareness and self-regulation,[10] like dance, breathing, and even a full-body workout depending on the individual's condition and need.
[11] Combining somatic psychology with group therapy can be effective for attachment disorders, transference impasse, and trauma.
Incorporating somatic components through sensory awareness and movement of the body, is most effective for patients who experienced physiological trauma.
[12] Teaching body awareness through monitoring physiological responses or behaviors, achieves or improves self-regulation, stabilization and a close connection to themselves or others.
[10] Different limitations are encountered within studies that show positive results, such as small samples and not following rigorous methodological criteria.
[14] The data is encouraging, but more objective studies are required to completely comprehend the efficacy of somatic psychology and experiencing, and improving the method-specific factors.