Somatic experiencing – effectiveness and key factors of a body-oriented trauma therapy: a scoping literature review

Summary & key facts

Researchers looked over the scientific papers on Somatic Experiencing, a therapy that uses body awareness to help people after trauma. They searched the literature up to August 2020 and found about 80 papers, of which 16 studies met their rules and were analyzed. The results look promising, but the studies vary in quality and have some problems that could bias the results, so stronger, carefully controlled trials are needed before we can be sure how well the therapy works.

Key facts:

• Somatic Experiencing is a body-centered therapy aimed at helping people recover from trauma.
• The authors did a scoping review of papers published up to August 13, 2020.
• They found about 80 articles in total and analyzed 16 studies that met their inclusion rules.
• Quality checks showed the studies were mixed in how well they were done, and a formal bias review found possible problems that may affect trust in the results.
• The reviewers concluded the findings are promising but said more unbiased, carefully controlled trials (randomized controlled trials) are needed to confirm whether Somatic Experiencing is effective.

Abstract

Background: has attracted growing interest in research and therapeutic practice, recently. Objective: . 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: . 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: are promising; yet, require more support from unbiased RCT-research. Future research should focus on filling this gap.

Topics

Art Therapy and Mental Health Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications

Categories

Health Sciences Medicine Psychiatry and Mental health

Tags

Clinical psychology Inclusion (mineral) Law Medicine MEDLINE Political science Psychology Psychotherapist Randomized controlled trial Social psychology Surgery Systematic review

Conditions & symptoms

Anxiety Depression PTSD Anxiety or worry Poor sleep Sadness or low mood