Somatic Psychotherapy Today

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

The Influence of Fear: From Franklin D. Roosevelt to Modern Neuroscience

Fear can paralyze a nation. Franklin D. Roosevelt inherited chaos when he was inaugurated as the 32nd president of the United States: the banking system had collapsed, unemployment had soared, and the economy had hit rock bottom—it was the Great Depression. Facing a national crisis, Roosevelt sought to reassure a fearful nation by proclaiming, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." His message aimed to shift the national mindset from despair to hope, encouraging Americans to recognize the pervasive power of fear and its ability to stop forward growth and further darken an already bleak situation. The same psychological truths about fear apply today. Thanks to advances in neuroscience, psychology, and the social sciences, we now have a deeper understanding of fear and its effects on the mind and body (Porges, 2011).

YOUTUBE VIDEOS

YouTube offers informative videos covering a wide range in the fields of Somatic Psychology and Body Psychotherapy. SPT Magazine offers videos our editorial team feels are aligned with our mission.

We invite you to watch authors Deb Dana and Courtney Rolfe discuss their collaboration and takeaways from their new book, Polyvagal Prompts: Finding Connection and Joy Through Guided Explorations, published by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

BODY MIND SPIRIT

The Father Figure in Uncertain Times

Genovino Ferri offers an in-depth consideration of the removal of the Father from his role as the symbol of the West’s patriarchal family. He notes that we are witnessing the erosion of the Family and the consequent removal of the Father. Per Dr Ferri, It is a body psycho-analytical description seeking to clearly articulate the container-contained interaction, placing greater emphasis on the container: ‘Being a Father figure is an organisational, evolutive state in the sense that this “paternal” role may be performed by men, women, individuals, and groups.’”

Mindfulness Built for Two

When clients come to us in crisis with racing thoughts, potent emotions, and harsh inner voices, didactic approaches to awareness training are not easy. After noticing their breath for a few minutes, people may be accosted by thoughts: I can’t do this; It’s just another thing for me to fail at; or I have too much to do. Beginners need to practice persistence before they experience meditation’s benefits, like improved concentration, reduced reactivity, and even lower blood pressure. In a culture where immediate gratification is expected, people often give up.

Binge Eating as Nervous System Dysregulation Turned Habit: Regulating Our Nervous System Through Somatic...

Over time, I experimented with different body-based movements and meditations. The most effective for me were sensory strategies that emphasized the body's crucial role in self-regulation and healing. For individuals like me, BED is not merely a psychological issue. Insights from my studies in somatic psychology and occupational therapy suggest that binge eating is a somatic manifestation of nervous system dysregulation.

Contemporary Reichian Analysis

Increasing awareness and understanding of epigenetics and neuroplasticity in current research has resulted in a new perspective of psychotherapy that is integrated with neurobiological information. This information is at the root of an emerging paradigm shift in body psychotherapy that I call Evolutive Stage Neuromediator Vegetotherapy.

The Mindfulness and Character Strengths Workbook

The Mindfulness and Character Strengths Workbook is everything I hoped for and more. It is a well-written, easy-to-follow, detailed to the nth degree workbook with extensive, free online materials to support the process including audio-guided meditations. Congratulations Ryan on a much-needed workbook to support people exploring character strengths and their integration with mindfulness.

Contemporary Reichian Analysis and Character-Analytical Vegetotherapy from 1933 to 2022

In this article, I will introduce a set of grammar clarifying body psychoanalysis, which extends not only to psychopathology, itself primarily interpreted as being bottom-up in terms of evolutive time, but also, to clinical psychotherapy, that follows. Perhaps I am outlining a new position, certainly it takes the Reichian paradigm deeper, or is, rather, a "change in the visual gestalt" as Kuhn might put it. It represents a change in the mental architecture of observation which emerges from a different way of feeling, I might add. It is a paradigm which reads the unconscious in its entirety, because the unconscious is undoubtedly a "mirror" for what has been deposited in the body.

Book Reviews

Polyvagal perspectives: interventions, practices, and strategies

As a seasoned laboratory scientist, Stephen W. Porges presented his polyvagal theory (PVT) in 1994 and simultaneously started a revolution. His research and resultant theories reframed our understanding of the ANS’s impact on stress, resilience, sociality, feelings of safety, and more. Porges’ newest book, Polyvagal Perspectives: Interventions, Practices, and Strategies, discusses concepts embedded in his original theory that transcended its theoretical framework. It represents his desire to ‘clarify his original theory and rectify potential misunderstandings by documenting its scientific foundation’ (pg. 24) and counter academic attacks and misrepresentations of clinical applications. The materials also demonstrate that a polyvagal perspective may deepen our understanding of vagal impacts on human health and experience.

Polyvagal Perspectives: Interventions, Practices, and Strategies

After decades of witnessing misunderstandings and misrepresentations, Dr. Stephen W. Porges wrote Polyvagal Perspectives: Interventions, Practices, and Strategies to set the record straight. He wanted to “clarify his original theory and rectify potential misunderstandings by documenting its scientific foundation” (pg. 24). Porges didn’t propose that PVT be proven or disproven. He wanted further research to inform and modify the theory and provide “a perspective to frame research questions—it is not a static theory” (pg. xiv). PVT consists of two components: a series of hypotheses “driven and future-oriented which could potentially lead to enhancements of mental and physical health” (pg.70) and a descriptive model. Porges wanted to emphasize the role of our autonomic state as “an intervening variable in how we respond to internal and external cues” (pg. 71).

Polyvagal Prompts: Finding Connection and Joy Through Guided Explorations

Beneath our “level of conscious awareness, our nervous system directs our movement toward and away from people, places, and experiences” (Dana & Rolfe, 2024, pg. 56). And this guidance is critical to our health and well-being. But we aren’t born knowing how to do it. Deb Dana, LCSW, and Courtney Rolfe, LCPC joined forces to write “Polyvagal Prompts: Finding Connection and Joy Through Guided Explorations.” They know we don’t innately know how to self-regulate our physiological and psychological states—we learn by co-regulating with attuned caregivers.