Recommended Reading

On the Somatic Experiencing® method

  • Levine, P. A. (2010). In An Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.

  • Levine, P. A. (2015). Trauma and Memory: Brain and Body in a Search for the Living Past - A Practical Guide for Understanding and Working with Traumatic Memory. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.

  • Levine, P. A. (2005). Healing Trauma: A Pioneering Program for Restoring the Wisdom of Your Body. Boulder, CO: Sounds True.

  • Levine, P. A. and Frederick, A., (1997). Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma: The Innate Capacity to Transform Overwhelming Experiences. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.

  • Levine, P. A. and Kline, M. (2008). Trauma-Proofing Your Kids: A Parent's Guide for Instilling Confidence, Joy and Resilience. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.

  • Levine, P. A. and Phillips, M. (2012). Freedom from Pain: Discover your Body's Power to Overcome Physical Pain. Boulder, CO: Sounds True.

  • Heller, D. Poole, and Heller, L. S. (2001). Crash Course: A Self-Healing Guide to Auto Accident Trauma and Recovery. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.

  • Heller, L. S. and LaPierre, A. (2012). Healing Developmental Trauma: How Early Trauma Affects Self-Regulation, Self-Image and the Capacity for Relationship. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.

  • Kain, K. L. and Terrell, S. J. (2018). Nurturing Resilience: Helping Clients Move Forward from Developmental Trauma. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.

 

Other recommended books

Badenock, B. (2008). Being A Brain-Wise Therapist: A Practical Guide to Interpersonal Neurobiology. New York. NY: W. W. Norton & Company.

Badenock, B. (2018). The Heart of Trauma: Healing the Embodied Brain in the Context of Relationships. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.

Burke-Harris, N (2018). The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity. Boston, MA: Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt.

Changaris, M. (2015). Touch: The Neurobiology of Health, Healing, and Human Connection. LifeRhythm.

Damasio, A (1999). The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Inc.

Damasio, A. (2006). Descartes’ Error. London: Vintage Books.

Dana, D. (2018). The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy: Engaging the Rhythm of Regulation. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.

Davies, K. (2017). The Intelligent Body: Reversing Chronic Fatigue and Pain from the Inside Out. New York, N.Y.: W. W. Norton & Company.

Doidge, N. (2016). The Brain’s Way of Healing: Stories of Remarkable Recoveries and Discoveries. London: Penguin Books.

Doidge, N. (2010). The Brain that Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science (Revised). Melbourne: Scribe Publications.

Duncan, A. D. (2019). The Tao of Trauma: A Practitioner’s Guide for Integrating Five Element Theory and Trauma Treatment. Berkeley CA: North Atlantic Books.

Grand, D. (2013). Brainspotting: The Revolutionary New Therapy for Rapid and Effective Change. Boulder, CO: Sounds True.

Johnston, A. (2000). Eating in the Light of the Moon: How Women Can Transform Their Relationships with Food Through Myths, Metaphors & Storytelling. Carlsbad, CA: Gurze Books.

Karr-Morse, R. and Wiley, M. S. (2012). Scared Sick: The Role of Childhood Trauma in Adult Disease. New York, NY: Basic Books.

Kurtz, R (2013). Body-Centered Psychotherapy: The Hakomi Method. LifeRhythm.

Lawson, C. A. (2000). Understanding the Borderline Mother: Helping her Children Transcend the Intense, Unpredictable, and Volatile Relationship. Landham, MD: Roman and Littlefield Publishers.

Lewis, T., Armini, F., Lannon, R. (2001). A General Theory of Love. New York, NY: Vintage Books.

Perry, B. D. and Szalavitz, M. (2017). The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog. New York, NY: Basic Books.

Porges, S. W. (2011). The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-Regulation. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.

Porges, S. W. (2017). The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory: The Transformative Power of Feeling Safe. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.

Rosenberg, S (2017). Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve: Self Help Exercises for Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, and Autism. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.

Roth, K. and Friedman, F. B. (2003). Surviving a Borderline Parent: How to Heal Your Childhood Wounds & Build Trust, Boundaries, and Self-Esteem. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications.

Rothschild, B. (2000). The Body Remembers: The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma Treatment. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.

Salvador, M. C. (2019). Beyond The Self: Healing Trauma and Brainspotting. Editorial Eleftheria: Sitges, Barcelona.

Schore, A. (1994). Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self: The Neurobiology of Emotional Development. New York, NY: Routledge.

Schore, A. (2012). The Science of the Art of Psychotherapy. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.

Schwartz, A (2016). The Complex PTSD Workbook: A Mind-Body Approach to Regaining Emotional Control & Becoming Whole. Berkeley CA: Althea Press.

Seubert, A. and Virdi, P., Eds. (2019). Trauma-Informed Approaches to Eating Disorders. Springer Publishing.

Wallin, D. J. (2007). Attachment in Psychotherapy. New York, NY: The Guildford Press.

Wolynn, M. (2016). It Didn’t Start With You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle. New York, NY: Viking Books.

PEER-REVIEWED SE RESEARCH

Click Here for published research describing the results of the first randomised-controlled study into Somatic Experiencing®  (SE) for PTSD:

"Somatic Experiencing for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Outcome Study."
Journal of Traumatic Stress, 0, 1-9., 2017.
Brom, D., Stokar, Y., Lowi, C., Nuriel-Porat, V., Ziv, Y., Lerner, K. and Ross, G.
 

Click Here for published research describing the outcomes of Somatic Experiencing®-informed group therapy for gender diverse populations:

"Somatic Experiencing® Informed Therapeutic Group for the Care and Treatment of Biopsychosocial Effects upon a Gender Diverse Identity."
Frontiers in Psychiatry, February 2018.
Briggs, P. C., Hayes, S., and Changaris, M.
 

Click Here for published research on 'interoception' and 'proprioception' as core elements of Somatic Experiencing® trauma therapy:

"Somatic experiencing: using interoception and proprioception as core elements of trauma therapy."
Frontiers in Psychiatry, February 2015.
Payne, P., Levine, P. A., Crane-Godreau, M. A.
 

Click Here for published research on the effect of Somatic Experiencing® trauma therapy on quality of life and psychological health:

"Effect of Somatic Experiencing Resiliency-Based Trauma Treatment Training on Quality of Life and Psychological Health as Potential Markers of Resilience in Treating Professionals."
Frontiers in Psychiatry, February 2018.
Winblad, N. E., Changaris, M., and Stein, P. K.
 

Click Here for a copy of published research into how applying the principles of physiological safety in group therapy deepens interpersonal processing by group members:

"Group Psychotherapy Informed by the Principles of Somatic Experiencing®: Moving Beyond Trauma to Embodied Relationship."
International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 67, sup1, S171-S181, 2017. 
Taylor, P. J., and Saint-Laurent, R.
 

Click here for a published article (page 41) in a leading research journal about neuroscience and toddlers' attachment behaviours.

"Toddler Trauma: Somatic Experiencing, Attachment and the Neurophysiology of Dyadic Completion."
International Journal of Neuropsychotherapy, 5, 1., 2017.
Riordan, J. P., Blakeslee, A., and Levine, P. A.