Somatic Experiencing®

Somatic Experiencing® (SE) was developed by Dr. Peter Levine following his observation that animals in the wild do not get traumatized even though daily they are faced with life threatening situations. Dr. Levine observed the mechanisms by which animals are able to shake off the high levels of nervous system arousal and return to their daily lives. He then began to ask the question of why humans are so susceptible to the devastating effects of trauma.

What he realized is that as the neocortex evolved, that part of the brain that makes us the most human, giving us the ability to think and ponder deep philosophical questions, our ability to override our instinctual responses also came online. Now, in most cases this is a really good thing. We don't have to automatically lash out and kill someone just because they took our food. We can creatively think up better strategies to deal with threats. But, as with most things in nature, being given a new and enhanced capability usually involves losing some part of an old one in its place. In this case the ability to override the instinctual responses of the nervous system left us with a vulnerability to being traumatized.

If we remember that, despite our abilities to think and utilize these human brain capabilities, we are still animals, then an examination of the natural responses that animals have to stress would give us a glimpse of what is appropriate and healthy.  Complex theories are now being proposed that take into account social evolution, new understandings of brain and nervous system physiology, and the impact of early attachment experiences.  For our purposes, here, a quick illustration in the animal world can help to orient us to this work. 

Take for instance an impala grazing on the savannah in Africa. The impala will be calm and relaxed as it grazes with other impalas in its herd.  Each animal alert and will be orienting to the environment around it to assess for potential danger through its senses of sight, smell, and hearing. These animals are able to work together watching out for each other's survival.

When the impala hears a twig snap it alerts to the sound, it becomes alert and vigilant as it searches for signs of danger. If none exists, the animal will return to grazing.  If, however a predator is spotted, the impala gets a jolt of adrenaline, its nerves become activated with electric charge, and its muscles tense. Blood begins to shift from its abdominal organs and its periphery to its large muscles to prepare it for flight. 

If the lioness comes closer to the impala, it responds in flight mode. The charge that had built up in the alert stage of orientation is useful at this point - this is life or death. As the lioness closes in on the impala and is just about to grab the impala, the impala collapses and can no longer run, can no longer even move, appearing dead. This is freeze. To the lioness freeze looks like death and to the impala, if it is bitten, the freeze state disconnects the animal from pain.  

At a certain point the lioness goes away. The impala now has to deal with all of the energy that has built up in its system that is no longer needed to flee from the lioness. It does this by a rhythmic shaking in waves of muscular discharge. The flight energy is dissipated and the impala returns to grazing.

In the human nervous system we have these same mechanisms. But, in humans these natural responses can be complicated. 

When we are faced with a life threatening crisis, our nervous system develops a motor plan for escaping it – fight or flight.  But, when that plan is thwarted, we may freeze.  However, our protective motor plan continues to go around in our brain & body.  Often if we do experience shaking or other signs of release, we find them uncomfortable and think of ways to override these responses.  So, we are left highly activated with an incomplete motor plan that continues to run in our bodies long after the original event and can easily be triggered by thoughts and experiences that have some resemblance to it.  This results in layers of unresolved stress responses in the body.  Sometimes the body gets stuck in a perpetual “on” mode or ongoing freeze/collapse. 

The event then becomes a vortex that spins faster and faster and becomes more and more inescapable as you are drawn into it.  It is scary, it is painful, and it feels life threatening getting sucked in and not being able to stop. We are wired for survival, so it makes sense that we develop avoidance behaviors and even phobias in order to stay away from the perceived threat. Sometimes, a person is drawn to the same or similar events and even seeking out behaviors that trigger some of the same reactions.  It is the body’s way of seeking appropriate completion. 

In working with trauma victims Dr. Levine observed that whenever they began to recite the story of what happened to them, along with the account of danger and panic there was always something pleasurable and life affirming that seemed to be in proximity to the threat.  The two always seem to occur together.  He proposed that an equal and opposite countervortex forms in relation to trauma.  This is not the same as “positive thinking” but something the body does on its own, automatically. This swinging back and forth is like the motion of a pendulum, so naturally Dr. Levine called it 'pendulation.'  Pendulation provides insulation from retraumatization. With each careful swing between vortexes, some release of the energy of each vortex is drawn off and the depth of the vortex is decreased. After sufficient pendulations the energy of the vortices are sufficiently removed as to restore full and easy responsiveness to present life conditions.