Sexual trauma is often stigmatized and viewed as a taboo topic to discuss and unfortunately, the way these issues are treated by many communities tends to force people who carry trauma to suffer in silence. Sexual trauma is not a condition that resolves on its own, and ignoring the issues at hand may lead to the development of other mental health conditions, sexual dysfunction, or a pervasive sense of sadness and guilt.
Several therapeutic practices exist to provide sexual trauma support and help traumatized individuals find relief. Somatic sex therapy is one of several applications that therapists can use to help facilitate a healthy connection between clients’ minds and bodies.
Keep reading to learn more about somatic sex therapy, how it works, and the conditions it can manage or treat.
What is Somatic Sex Therapy?
Somatic sex therapy is a therapeutic approach that’s designed to help patients overcome sexual traumas, understand experiences of complex sexual abuse, identify and define their boundaries, and embrace themselves and their unique sexualities. A licensed therapist performs these therapy sessions, and during them, the therapist and patient focus on enhancing the connection to the physical body while pursuing the more traditional mental health treatment approaches. This type of therapy may also be used for couples who seek counseling to overcome one or both partners’ sexual traumas together.
The medical community understands that unresolved trauma has a way of cementing itself into the human body. Once stress becomes trauma, it causes pain, anxiety, and the deterioration of an individual’s well-being. In response, body-based somatic sexology and the therapeutic methods related to it are incorporated to help traumatized individuals experience relief.
How is This Form of Sex Therapy Applied?
When a patient or client undergoes somatic sex therapy, he or she meets with a licensed sex coach or sexual health therapist. The overall application can follow a number of different methods, depending on what works best for the individual, but some exercises include breathwork, gentle movement, self-touch, and talk therapy. Some applications even include traditional practices derived from Taoism, shamanism, tantra, and erotic massage.
Under the guidance of a therapist, the individual is coached through the session with the goal of helping this person connect more effectively with his or her body. A deeper, more meaningful connection with the body can help increase body awareness, and encourage the client to interpret his or her sensations and emotions more thoroughly.
The physical touch element of this therapeutic approach, whether it’s led by the client, the therapist, or the client’s partner, aims to center the individual’s emotional and sexual consciousness within their own body.
Because sexual traumas can lead to dissociation between a person’s consciousness and their physical body, somatic sex therapy aims to establish a new, strong sense of body connection and experiencing emotions, intimacy, sexuality, and sensuality.
Variations of Somatic Sex Therapy
Somatic therapies can vary in practice, so it’s wise to be aware of the variations in sexual therapy applications. Some therapeutic variations include somatic sexology, somatic coaching, sexological bodywork, and traditional somatic sex therapy, which we covered in the section above.
- Somatic Sexology: This term refers to the study of sex and sexuality in regard to how it relates to the human body. It’s the key theory behind the practice of somatic therapies.
- Somatic Coaching: This is not a clinical practice, but it’s similar to somatic sex therapy in that it aims to help clients reconnect with their bodies and develop a greater sense of sexual well-being.
- Sexological Bodywork: Sexological bodywork is a tool used in somatic therapies that practitioners employ to help clients become more familiar with their own bodies. This set of tools might include breathing exercises, erotic yoga practice, erotic massage, and other forms of bodywork.
Who is Qualified to Perform Somatic Therapies?
Somatic sexology is more of an umbrella term for the study of sex and the physical body, so depending on the specific practices performed under this umbrella, several individuals may be qualified to perform therapeutic services.
Somatic sex therapy itself is usually conducted by sex therapists, somatic sex educators, or psychologists.
However, sexological bodywork and somatic coaching practices are not always clinical, so licensure or certification isn’t always needed for practitioners. For example, erotic massage might be performed by a masseuse or massage therapist. Sexual health coaches, counselors, social workers, and sex workers might conduct breathing exercises, talk sessions, touch and self-touch routines, and more.
It’s essential for individuals who carry sexual trauma to seek the help of a service provider they can trust. Working with a licensed professional is often the best possible option.
Goals of Somatic Sex Therapy
Somatic sex therapy can be applied to treat a number of sexually-related traumas, so depending on the client’s unique needs and background concerns, the therapist and client might define a list of goals and outcomes they hope to achieve.
Some goals focus on the emotional injuries that sexual trauma generates within the physical body, such as the desire to reestablish a sense of safety in one’s own skin, evaluate concerning habits, find acceptance in one’s sexuality or gender, welcoming touch as a healing tool, overcome shame or guilt, or develop more effective personal wisdom.
Other goals may aim to address the physical effects of sexual trauma, including the ways these effects impact a person’s mental and emotional health. These goals might include easing post-operative or intercourse-induced pain and discomfort, evaluating the source of mysterious physical symptoms, overcoming disordered eating, addressing performance anxiety or trouble achieving arousal, reconnecting with the ability to feel pleasure following childbirth or surgery, or even exploring anal sex.
Even still, some goals might relate to correcting the ways mental health disorders have deteriorated an individual’s sexual health. Examples include fostering healthy self-care, exploring boundaries, processing trauma, working through depression and anxiety, finding the ability to try new sexual experiences, and accepting or enjoying sensual or sexual touch.
If you’re interested in exploring somatic sex therapy to help you overcome traumas you carry with you, contact Modern Intimacy. One of our licensed, experienced therapists can schedule a consultation with you to go over your concerns, options, and background information.
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