Group Psychotherapy Informed by the Principles of Somatic Experiencing: Moving Beyond Trauma to Embodied Relationship

ABSTRACTThis article introduces the application of Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) to group psychotherapy. SE utilizes normative physiological responses to danger as a means of restoring healthy functioning of the nervous system. The authors suggest that the principles of SE, developed primarily for use with traumatized individual clients, can make the work of interpersonal group psychotherapy deeper and more effective. They respond to a clinical vignette by conceptualizing the group members from an SE perspective and discussing how the process of an SE-informed psychotherapy group would likely unfold quite differently than the vignette as presented.