Sensorimotor Psychotherapy is a body-centered approach to therapy that integrates somatic (body-based), cognitive, and emotional techniques to treat trauma and attachment issues. Developed by Pat Ogden, it is rooted in both neuroscience and the principles of somatic awareness, drawing on the idea that the body holds and expresses psychological experiences.

Key Features:

• Body Awareness: Clients are guided to notice and explore bodily sensations, posture, movement, and gesture as a way of accessing unconscious or unprocessed trauma.
  
  

• Bottom-Up Processing: Rather than starting with thoughts or emotions (as in traditional talk therapy), this approach begins with physical experience to inform emotional and cognitive understanding.
  
  

• Trauma Resolution: It is particularly effective for those with trauma (especially developmental or complex trauma), as it helps process the implicit memories that are stored in the body.
  
  

• Mindfulness-Based: The therapy encourages present-moment awareness and curiosity, helping clients observe their experiences without judgment.
  
  

• Integration with Attachment Theory: It also explores how early relationships and attachment patterns are embodied and can be shifted through therapeutic relationship and body-based work.
  
  

Goals of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy:

• Increase self-regulation and emotional resilience

• Develop a deeper sense of safety in the body

• Integrate past traumatic experiences

Create new, adaptive patterns of thought, behavior, and bodily response