Somatic experiencing – effectiveness and key factors of a body-oriented trauma therapy: a scoping literature review. Issue 1 (1st January 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kuhfuß, Marie; Maldei, Tobias; Hetmanek, Andreas; Baumann, Nicola
• Is Part Of: European journal of psychotraumatology. Volume 12:Issue 1(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-01-01
• Subjects: Somatic experiencing -- bottom-up-therapy -- trauma therapy -- posttraumatic stress disorder -- PTSD -- scoping literature review; Experiencia somática -- terapia de abajo hacia arriba -- terapia de trauma -- trastorno de estrés postraumático -- TEPT -- revisión del alcance de la literatura; 躯体体验 -- 自下而上疗法 -- 创伤疗法 -- 创伤后应激障碍 -- PTSD -- 范围文献综述; Post-traumatic stress disorder -- Periodicals; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic; Post-traumatic stress disorder; Electronic journals; Periodicals; Periodicals; Fulltext; Internet Resources; Periodicals; 616.8521
• DOI: 10.1080/20008198.2021.1929023
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2000-8198

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Background: The body-oriented therapeutic approach Somatic Experiencing® (SE) treats post-traumatic symptoms by changing the interoceptive and proprioceptive sensations associated with the traumatic experience. Filling a gap in the landscape of trauma treatments, SE has attracted growing interest in research and therapeutic practice, recently. Objective: To date, there is no literature review of the effectiveness and key factors of SE . This review aims to summarize initial findings on the effectiveness of SE and to outline method-specific key factors of SE . Method: To gain a first overview of the literature, we conducted a scoping review including studies until 13 August 2020. We identified 83 articles of which 16 fit inclusion criteria and were systematically analysed. Results: Findings provide preliminary evidence for positive effects of SE on PTSD-related symptoms. Moreover, initial evidence suggests that SE has a positive impact on affective and somatic symptoms and measures of well-being in both traumatized and non-traumatized samples. Practitioners and clients identified resource-orientation and use of touch as method-specific key factors of SE . Yet, an overall studies quality assessment as well as a Cochrane analysis of risk of bias indicate that the overall study quality is mixed. Conclusions: The results concerning effectiveness and method-specific key factors of SE are promising; yet, require more support from unbiased RCT-research. Future research should focus on filling this gap. HIGHLIGHTS: This is to our knowledge the first literature review of the effectiveness and key factors of Somatic Experiencing (SE) . Results provide preliminary evidence that SE is an effective treatment of PSTD related symptoms and may be also usefull in the treatment of other disorders.