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thurenberg's avatar

Hello, I have noticed that for many people, the idea of somatic trauma healing can be intimidating. Some individuals may be hesitant to try this type of therapy or any therapy that involves directly addressing traumatic memories due to fear of experiencing overwhelming discomfort or pain that is difficult to cope with. Getting stuck in pain is different from discomfort or something you can cope with so it's just uncomfortable and not super painful. I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this topic. Thank you.

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Scarab's avatar

This is great, thank you! It really helps me understand how somatic work can help un-stick trauma, and makes lots of sense in the context of my knowledge about trauma. But ironically I'm a bit confused about how you define regulation still, lol! You opened the essay talking about the difficulties of defining it, and it seems implied that you think of the kind of somatic work you do as a form of regulation. But AFAIK the way psychology usually uses the word regulation is about things that don't necessarily actively heal trauma, but help us get back to that flow state and unstuck temporarily, in the moment--taking a walk, making art, talking to a friend, etc. So I think that caused some confusion for me, since that stuff usually *is* designed to help us feel better temporarily, as well as regulate us (also temporarily). Which are indispensable skills, but different from healing that gets us back to a state of psychological homeostasis in the long term, perhaps akin to more long term regulation. Would be great if you clarified. Thanks for this helpful essay!

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