Body Oriented Therapies: An Affective Treatment Modality for Trauma and Trauma Symptoms

Abstract

This Literature Review thesis illustrates the effectiveness of body-oriented therapies in the treatment of trauma and trauma symptoms. Recent advances in neuroscience are briefly explored to help understand why trauma symptoms rest in the body and or nervous system. Explorations of concepts such as neuroplasticity, implicit and explicit memories are looked at to help support the effectiveness of body-oriented therapy. A brief exploration of Levine’s somatic experiencing therapy is given along with an example of what it looks like in practice. Ogden’s sensorimotor theory is briefly looked along with at with case examples of what it looks like in a therapy session. The findings from both Levine and Ogden’s work support body-oriented therapies as an affective treatment of trauma and trauma symptoms. A discussion of the limitations of the work, and concluding remarks are made.