The Somatic Psychotherapies (sometimes called Body Psychotherapy/ies) are psychotherapies that emphasise the mind-body connection and recognise the role of the body in emotional and psychological well-being. Somatic Psychotherapies recognise that living in a mammalian, animal body necessitates that bodily sensations, movements, and physical experiences are connected to a person's emotional and psychological state.

 

Psychoanalytically informed and attachment based, Somatic Psychotherapy takes the view
that unresolved emotional issues and trauma can manifest in the body as physical tension,
pain, or discomfort. The goal of somatic psychotherapy is to utilise one's entirety of experience - beyond just the cognitive or conscious - to resolve our past experience's negative impact on our current thinking, feeling, beliefs and functioning, to move forward in more adaptive, healthful ways.

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Key aspects of somatic psychotherapy include:

1. Embodied Awareness:

We are encouraged to become more aware of our bodily sensations, movements, and physical experiences. This heightened awareness helps us recognise how our emotions and psychological states are reflected in our bodies.

2. Mind-Body Integration:

Somatic psychotherapy aims to bridge the gap between mental and physical experiences, helping us understand how emotional issues can be intertwined with bodily signs and symptoms. It seeks to create a holistic approach to healing.

3. Trauma Resolution:

Somatic psychotherapy is often used as an effective approach to working with the experience of trauma (or overwhelming experiences). It helps process traumatic experiences in the brain and body, ultimately reducing symptoms like anxiety, depression, pain, and post-traumatic stress.​

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Marisa has undertaken training in the following Body Psychotherapies, Somatic Psychotherapies and bodies of work:

• Somatic Experiencing (SE) 

• Focusing-oriented Psychotherapy

• Polyvagal-informed Psychotherapy

• Interpersonal Neurobiology

• Core Energetics

• Radix Body Psychotherapy

• Energy Psychology (Bioenergetics)