Beyond Words: Somatic Approaches for Treating PTSD and Trauma
A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 November 2025 | Viewed by 575
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The integration of body-oriented approaches with psychological treatments has emerged as a promising development in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), complex PTSD, and related forms of traumatic stress. While traditional therapeutic approaches emphasize the cognitive and emotional dimensions of trauma, there is a growing recognition of the profound role that physiological interventions can play in facilitating healing. Traumatic stress leaves traces not only in the mind but also in the body, and addressing these physical imprints is vital for comprehensive treatment. This Special Issue highlights therapies that blend somatic and psychological methods, with a focus on improving the outcomes for individuals, as well as informing the clinicians seeking to remediate trauma.
Research spanning the past century has illuminated the complex interaction between the body and mind in trauma recovery. Historical insights—such as Charles Darwin's recognition that the vagus nerve linked emotion with the body's organ systems; WWI psychiatrist Abram Kardiner's characterization of shell shock as a "physiological neurosis"; Wilhelm Reich's description of “muscular armor"; and Joseph Wolpe's discovery that diaphragmatic breathing effectively treated WWII veterans — all underscore the potential of somatic techniques to release the physical limitations associated with traumatic experiences.
Recent studies have demonstrated that somatic therapies can disrupt the cycle of retraumatization often observed when only talk therapy is utilized. While verbal approaches have shown inestimable value in treating many mental health conditions, trauma often requires the clinician to go "beyond words" in order to calm the body's survival response and produce resolution. Contemporary somatic treatments such as yoga therapy, HeartMath, Somatic Experiencing, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFTs), neurofeedback, and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) provide evidence-based interventions that target both the physiological and emotional roots of trauma. This Special Issue highlights the current research on these interventions, among others, assessing their efficacy, mechanisms of action, and integration into standard care.
The overarching goal of this Special Issue is to provide a clinical overview of somatic therapies and chart a future direction for their application in trauma treatment. We invite articles that delve into the clinical and theoretical implications of somatic interventions, offering novel insights and empirical findings that can inform best practices and policy guidelines. By integrating physical and psychological approaches, this Special Issue aims to enhance the therapeutic toolkit available to treat psychological trauma, enabling practitioners to more effectively address the complex needs of patients, clients, their families, their communities, and society as a whole.
Dr. Dawson Church
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- PTSD
- somatic therapy
- emotion
- physiology
- trauma
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