Somatic Psychotherapy Today

By Jeanne Denney This year, the conversation about AI has become almost deafening; it arrived on all my devices as a new authority about everything. ...

SPT Magazine is pleased to share our review of Somatic-Oriented Therapies., Edited by Herbert Grassmann, Maurizio Stupiggia, and Stephen W. Porges. The 32 chapters in Somatic-Oriented Therapies blend Polyvagal Theory principles into body psychotherapy as the contributors discuss research, the science of embodying, and embodied practice.

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).

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.’”