Trauma Assessment Somatic Psychology

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Trauma Assessment/ Somatic
Psychology

• Valentin Popov

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Guidelines

• Ask permission to touch another person
• Then wait for an affirmative response
• Be responsible for your own body
• Stop means STOP!
• Practice only what I show you
• If you want to do/try/show something else, ask
  for my permission first

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What is Trauma?

• Trauma means wound in Greek
• An event, with or without injury to the body,
  that causes long-lasting mental or emotional
  damage.
• Every trauma has an emotional component
• Some traumas have both physical and emotional
  components

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Types of Trauma

• Single Event (accident or circumstance)
• Did they see it coming?
• If they did it will have a stronger emotional
  component
• Was there malice by another person
• Multiple Event (the event is repeated)
• Postural (e.g. shoulders rolled in)
• Behavioral (RSI)

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Early Life Trauma

• Prenatal, natal, post-natal, and infancy
• These usually elicit only feelings with no words
  to describe them in adulthood
• Early childhood traumas strongly influence
  character development
• A characterology is an attitude about what the
  world is like and what survival strategies to use

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Somatotyping by William Sheldon

• Ectomorph long arms and legs, short upper body
  with narrow shoulders (nerve)
• Mesomorph large bones, solid torso, narrow waist
  wide shoulders (muscle)
• Endomorph large bone structure with wide waist
  (adipose digestive)

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Some Famous Ectomorphs
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Lisa Kudrow Brad Pitt Paris Hilton Animal
Crane
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Some Famous Mesomorphs
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Arnold Schwarzenegger Sylvester
Stallone Animal Gorilla
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Some Famous Endomorphs
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Jackie Gleeson Rosie O'Donnell Animal Polar
Bear
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Can You Somatotype These Two?
Laurel and Hardy
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Pictures of Face Splits Regular view Reversed
(mirror view) Double left views Double right views
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Bodymind Concepts

• That (guy or girl) is hot
• He/she is sharp as a tack
• He/she is a pain in the ass
• That person is as cold as ice
• That (man or woman) is as good as gold
• He/she is kind-hearted
• He/shes so cool

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Can You Think of Any Others?
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Characterology is Associating Personality Traits
with Body Types
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Somatotypes and Tridoshas

• Ectomorph - flight Vata air and ether
• Are ungrounded, so they like to be held
• Mesomorph fight - Pitta fire and water
• Loose their temper, so they like being soothed
• Endomorph freeze- Kapha water earth
• They feel stuck, so they like being jostled

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The Three Directions of Application
Ecto/Vata Meso/Pitta Endo/Kapha
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Time to Wash the Dishes

• How would you get each of the following
  somato/characters to wash the dishes?
• Ectomorph/Vata
• bring them down to earth (here they are)
• Mesomorph/Pitta
• put out their fire (there, there, calm down)
• Endomorph/Kapha
• shake them loose (come on, get you butt off the
  couch)

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Trauma and the Stress Response

• Hans Selye said that stress the non-specific
  response of the body to any demand
• Trauma that develops into mental illness
• PTSD
• General Anxiety Disorder
• Agoraphobia
• Obsessive Compulsive
  Disorder
• Major Depression

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What You Need to Keep in Mind

• Anyone with trauma that has remained unresolved
  will have an increase in their stress level in
  daily life, and if it is severe enough they will
  suffer mental illness.
• If they have mental illness, they will have a
  combination of all the ones mentioned. Usually
  one main one, PLUS depression

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Preparing to Work on Clients with Somatic
Psychology as a Goal

• Make sure they have a support network
• You do not need to know their trauma history.
• It is best if they tell you their triggers
• Help them manage their stress level and get in
  touch with their emotions through their bodies
  (muscle memory)

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90 Minute Circadian Rhythm Cycle (Ultradian Cycle)
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Abreactions

• Emotional release weeping for any of a variety
  of reasons sadness, grief, mourning
• Abreaction Reliving a past traumatic event in
  order to resolve it (They are in two realities at
  the same time, keeping one foot in this reality )
• Mental disorder They cannot distinguish between
  the two realities ( They do not have a foothold
  on external reality. Time to call 911)

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Abreaction Cycle

• Climbing the Rollercoaster mostly inhalation
  with little exhalation (fear)
• Over the Top inhalation with spurts of apnea
  (realization of it happening again)
• On the Ride - alternating inhalation and
  exhalation/weeping (letting it all out)
• Coasting to a Stop longer exhalation than
  inhalation that sometimes ends in laughter
  (realizing that its over)

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How to Work with Abreactions

• Everybody is different
• Avoid being judgmental
• Honor the sacred space
• Do not stop what you are doing until you ask them
  what they want you to do
• Reassure them that they are safe, but do not give
  them advice or counseling
• Maintain the highest standards of confidentiality
  at all times

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How to Access Trauma

• Trauma in the body can be assessed by their
  guarding pattern
• Guarding patterns are reflexive and subconscious
• When you gently offer movement to the body, the
  areas of trauma will resist
• Areas free of trauma, or stress, will move with
  the whole body

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How to Work with Trauma by Using Somatic
Psychology

• Once you found an area, try the The Three
  Directions of Application from the somatotypes
  and tridoshas characterology
• Ecto/Vata Hold it
• Meso/PittaStroke it
• Endo/KaphaJostle it

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When you find the right combination they will
smile. Or, if they have unresolved trauma, get
ready for the rollercoaster ride!