Trauma Essentials by Babette Rothschild

Author:Babette Rothschild
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Expressive Therapies

Therapies that promote self-expression and creativity can be very helpful in healing trauma. Many such expressive therapies utilize the creativity of art, dance, music, writing, poetry, or drama, and so on. The idea of such therapies is to facilitate the client’s emotional expression and cognitive organization through creative expression.

Nonpsychological Body Therapies

There are several methods of body therapy that advocate for or teach their students the treatment of trauma. Some specify their application as an adjunct to other, more psychologically oriented, therapies. However, there are several that claim that their graduates, even the ones who are exclusively trained in only their model, are fully qualified to treat trauma. Here I think a modicum of caution is advised. Though addressing the somatic aspects of trauma may be very important, addressing the psychological aspects is—at the least—equally important. So it is ill advised to approach trauma on a purely physical level. Psychological integration is a critically important element of healing.

Many of these methods can be extremely helpful for traumatized people—on an individual basis, as for any other treatment option. However, I would recommend that they only be used as an adjunct to a method that is psychologically oriented, either psychotherapy or body psychotherapy. Some therapists have training in both somatic and psychological theory and methods. However, those practitioners who only have somatic experience will often team up with a colleague who has predominantly psychological training. The team works together with the same client, each member applying their best tools, helping the client to integrate the two approaches. In such situations the resulting cooperative work can be very helpful.

In the list of helpful body therapies I would include cranial sacral, massage, Rolfing, shiatsu, Pilates, Feldenkrais, Alexander technique, and so on. Some of these are discussed in more detail in Chapter 11.

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