Innovative Alternative Approaches to Healing Trauma

This post was co-authored by Mellissa Withers and Maya Makarem (a Master of Public Health student at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine.)

More studies are examining the effectiveness of innovative, non-traditional approaches to healing for human trafficking survivors. Scientific research has proven that, as humans, we store memories, experiences, and emotions on a cellular level, which means that our bodies may react to traumatic experiences long after the fact.

Evidence suggests that alternative, body-oriented therapies, often called “somatic therapies,” can be beneficial for victims of traumatic experiences, such as sexual abuse. Somatic therapies focus on the connection between the mind and body and examine the ways in which emotions may manifest within the body. Somatic therapies engage the body while navigating thoughts, emotions, and memories, unlike traditional forms of therapy like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) which focuses on engaging the mind. Somatic therapies can help patients suffering from a variety of conditions such as trauma, stress, anxiety, depression, self-esteem issues, trust and intimacy issues, grief, addiction and more.

Somatic therapies use mind-body exercises to release physical manifestations of stress and trauma that go unresolved and that can negatively impact an individual’s physical and emotional health and well-being. For example, we can hold unresolved feelings or trauma in our body through pain and muscle tension. And long-term, this unresolved trauma can create serious physical effects, such as sleep disturbances, or gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, neurological, musculoskeletal, respiratory, and dermatological disorders.

These non-traditional treatments are gaining popularity in providing new avenues for healing. For example, the University of Southern California’s (USC) office of Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention and Services (RSVP) has recently hosted trauma-informed yoga sessions and an aromatherapy workshop for survivors of sexual violence.

Numerous innovative treatment techniques exist in somatic therapies; these include dance, exercise, vocal work, and art. Some others are explained below:

Trauma-Informed Yoga

Trauma-informed yoga (TIY) is a tailored approach that differs from typical yoga by focusing on the feeling of embodiment when practicing poses, rather than the technicality of the poses themselves. Practicing certain yoga poses can be triggering for survivors of physical trauma, specifically sexual trauma. But over time, feeling a sense of grounding to help trauma survivors connect with their body and mind can be very powerful in helping survivors can reclaim agency and control over their bodies. When trauma survivors live in a chronic “fight, flight, or freeze” state, it can interfere with the body’s ability to restore a calm state of balance. The goal of trauma-informed yoga is to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the body’s rest and relaxation response.

Trauma-Informed Mindfulness

Trauma-informed mindfulness is a tailored mindfulness practice that takes into consideration the unique needs of trauma survivors who may have difficulty practicing meditation because of triggers like certain sounds, smells, or emotions. Traditional mindfulness practices can sometimes actually leave trauma survivors feeling overwhelmed and distressed, even exacerbating some symptoms. In meditation, for example, the breath is usually a common point to start from to stabilize the mind, as it is connected to the sympathetic nervous system. However, for trauma survivors, focusing on their breath may be triggering. Trauma- informed mindfulness equip survivors with the ability to face difficult experiences through techniques such as grounding, anchoring and self-regulation techniques. By learning to be more aware of their physical responses to triggers, survivors feel more power and control over their bodies. In addition to meditation, other mindfulness techniques can include observing objects, colors, or the space around and listening attentively to music.

Therapeutic Gardening, or Horticulture

Therapeutic horticulture is defined as using nature or plant-related activities, such as gardening and farming, to improve an individual’s psychological and physical health and well-being. Research has highlighted a positive impact of nature on inducing positive effects in the body, such as reducing stress, improving mood, lowering blood pressure, and decreasing heart rate. While a restorative garden may provide benefits to survivors by simply allowing them to walk or sit, in an enabling garden, therapeutic effects occur while actively gardening. Therapeutic horticulture has been commonly used to help domestic violence survivors and their children heal and cope; it has been implemented in domestic violence shelters. Gardening provides an important outlet for survivors to connect with their bodies and nature through directed and sustained attention and body awareness, which can promote mindfulness. The act of using one’s hands in the soil in planting can be grounding and calming. The pleasing sights, smells, and textures of a garden can promote heightened sensory awareness and integration, which can help shift survivors’ chronic states of fight-or-flight to a more regulated state of rest. Gardening also offers the opportunity to interact with nature, which can help to reduce agitation and hyperarousal and improve mood. Cultivating food can be fun and rewarding as well.

Aromatherapy

People around the world have been using aromatherapy for centuries. Aromatherapy is a form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) that uses essential oils to improve well-being or manage symptoms. Essential oils are usually made from flowers, herbs, tree parts such as roots, peels, and petals, and essence that give plants their fragrant smell. Aromatherapy works through stimulating the nervous system through the scent of an essential oil, setting a chain reaction of signals to the brain and chemical responses throughout the body. Aromatherapy can help individuals heal from trauma through regulating the Amygdala, a region of the brain that activates the fight and flight response. The scents can also trigger the hypothalamus and limbic system which helps control one’s emotions. The hormone that the brain releases, such as dopamine, endorphins and serotonin, regulate numerous body functions including sleep, mood, and digestion.

Essential oils can be applied topically on pressure points and energy centers such as the heart, wrists, or behind the ears. They can also be added to a warm bath, diffused throughout the room with a diffuser, or made into a massage oil and massaged into the hands and feet or back and spine. Some of the most widely used essential oils for trauma healing include lavender (for relaxation), ylang ylang (to calm anger), bergamot (to reduce anxiety), Mandarin (to calm the mind and relax the body to induce sleep), rose oil (to reduce anxiety and depression), and Chamomile (to treat anxiety, worry, irritability and depression.)

Trauma Essential Reads

To Tell or Not to Tell: Disclosing Your Painful Past

Healing in Motion

These alternative therapy options incorporate the body and the mind in healing. They offer survivors a way to gain control over their minds and bodies, with the goal of fostering physical and mental health and well-being.

To find a therapist, visit the Psychology Today Therapy Directory.