Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (SP) is an approach that particularly addresses post-traumatic disorders, as well as other disorders in general. It was developed in the 1980s. Its main theoretical reference is the Hakomi Method (Kurtz, 1990), a somatic approach to psychotherapy, which in turn was influenced by numerous physical disciplines, such as yoga, postural integration, dance, and other movement-based approaches.
It also integrates theoretical and technical contributions from psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy, as well as current research in neuroscience, attachment theory, and dissociation.
This approach uses observation and intervention tools primarily focused on the body, which are usually excluded from other types of therapies. The therapist focuses on posture, muscular tension, and movements, encouraging the patient to recognize and observe how physical sensations are connected to particular emotions and thoughts, and to integrate these bodily experiences into their lived experience.
The main objective of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy is to help patients regulate altered neurovegetative functions, modifying somatoform symptoms and certain pathogenic beliefs, especially those concerning the body. The patient learns to become aware of their body, gradually developing trust in it, learning to recognize and respect their somatic markers.
This work on traumatic experiences through attention to the body, whether dealing with single traumatic events or developmental trauma histories, allows for the progressive awareness of the fundamental role played by the body in processing events.
In people who have experienced trauma, traumatic experiences are not remembered, but relived. They cannot be controlled because they are not integrated into consciousness. The trauma is relived as if it were still current, the person still feels threatened, the body remains hyperactivated. There is a kind of temporal misperception, where past is confused with present and future.
Through Sensorimotor Therapy and bodywork, it is possible to transform reliving into remembering, placing the experience in the past, integrating implicit and explicit memory, giving voice to the story told by the body.
Through this growing mind-body integration, it is possible to acquire progressive emotional regulation capabilities, self-reflexivity, and a greater sense of mastery and competence.
Improving the ability to regulate bodily activation facilitates access to problematic mental states.
Within the therapeutic relationship, bodily sensations connected to moments of difficulty can be gradually addressed, focusing on motor and postural reactions linked to trauma without judgment.
Sensorimotor Therapy thus uses specific observation tools and interventions primarily directed at the body, which are not present in other intervention models. The primary focus on the body helps become aware of one’s body, physical sensations, and relate them to one’s beliefs and emotions.
Sensorimotor therapy bases its intervention rationale on the belief that “to avoid remaining trapped in the past, the traumatized person needs:
- to become aware of old maladaptive automatic action tendencies
- learn to inhibit initial stimuli
- experiment with various alternatives to complete what is incomplete, the frozen actions that proved futile at the time of trauma
- train to perform effective alternative actions.
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy can be well integrated with various psychotherapeutic intervention models, providing an additional tool for the therapist and enabling movement in two directions of information processing (top-down and bottom-up), to promote processing at multiple levels: bodily, cognitive, and emotional.
The patient is taught to focus on the sensations and impulses that invade their body, setting aside related cognitive and emotional components until these reach a point of rest or stabilization.
The patient learns to observe fragments of sensorimotor reactions activated following trauma, becoming highly aware of their bodily sensations in the details and specificities that subtly define them.
This does not resolve the trauma itself but teaches the patient to use their higher functions to monitor lower ones by directing attention to the here and now, to the specific bodily phenomenon.
Bibliographic sources used
- Boon S., Steele K., Van der Hart O. (2013) Italian trans. edited by Tagliavini G., Giovannozzi G. (2013). Traumatic Dissociation. Understanding and Addressing it. Mimesis Edizioni.
- Giannantonio M. (2013). Trauma, Attachment and Sexuality. Integrated Body Psychotherapy and Bodywork for Invisible Wounds. Mimesis Edizioni.
- Kurtz, R. (1990). Body-Centered Psychotherapy: The Hakomi Method. Mendicino, CA: LifeRithm.
- Ogden, P., Minton, K., Pain, C. (2006). Trauma and the Body. A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy. New York: Norton.
- Schore AN (2003). Affect Regulation and the Repair of the Self. Italian trans. Rome: Astrolabio, 2008
