Background: Eating disordered clients often articulate feelings in terms of bodily sensations including, “fat, bloated, and weighed down.” Therapists who intervene using only cognitive and emotional methods miss actual physical sensations. Sensorimotor Psychotherapy(SP) invites the body into treatment. This workshop provides SP basics and experiential exercises for immediate use with clients.
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: 101 I. Introduction A. Experiential Exercise: Becoming Mindful B. What is Sensorimotor Psychotherapy? II. The Basics of SP A. The Triune Brain 1. Action Tendencies B. Hierarchical Information Processing 1. Top-Down 2. Bottom-Up C. The Window of Tolerance 1. Polyvagal Theory 2. Hyper-arousal 3. Hypo-arousal 4. Window of Tolerance Exercise C. Eating Disorders and the Window of Tolerance 1. Stabilization 2. Resourcing Exercise III. Skills for Working with the Body 1. Tracking and Body Reading 2. Contact Statement 3. Mindfulness 4. Experiments and Exploration 5. Client Video IV. Treatment Considerations
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: 101
Clients with eating disorders typically do not know how to articulate their feelings. They describe their bodily sensations through descriptors such as “I feel fat, heavy, bloated, weighed down, gross”, and “like I want to jump out of my skin”. Many therapists use cognitive and emotional interventions; thereby ignoring important information provided by the actual physical bodily sensations. Ironically, the eating disorder is played out on the landscape of the body, but the body gets ignored in the treatment.
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (SP), a brain-based somatic method, invites the body itself into treatment by addressing the physical terrain of the eating disorder. More specifically, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, founded by Dr. Pat Ogden, is a body-oriented talking therapy that integrates verbal techniques with body-centered interventions in the treatment of trauma, attachment, and developmental issues. SP incorporates theory and techniques from psychodynamic psychotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, neuroscience, and theories of attachment and dissociation.
Through inclusion of the body’s sensations and utilizing mindfulness, exploration, curiosity, and movement, clients learn to view their bodies as “windows” into their experiences rather than simply as an enemy to fear, fix, split off from, or dispose of.
Furthermore, this technique teaches our clients to track their bodies, fostering a sense of personal effectiveness and improving interoceptive awareness. Noticing rather than judging the body’s sensations allows our clients to relate to their bodies mindfully. This teaches them to observe, rather than fuse or over-identify with their bodies. Mindfulness facilitates a “presence of mind” which improves tolerance of powerful or difficult emotions, reduces impulsivity and creates a sense of mastery which has been shown to improve mental health.
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: 101 will introduce attendees to some of the SP basics. The technique will be presented didactically and through video review. In addition, attendees will have the opportunity to learn and practice experientially so they can take the exercises home to use with their clients immediately.
Holly Finlay has been a member of iaedp for over 20 years, and has served on the Board of Directors since 2004. She is currently the Founder and Clinical Director of the Eating Disorders Treatment Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico where she has been in practice for over 20 years. Holly is both a Certified Eating Disorders Specialist and a Certified Sensorimotor Psychotherapist. She provides individual therapy, clinical supervision, group therapy, and runs both an adult and adolescent intensive out-patient program in Albuquerque.
