Accurately Tracking Resiliency and Disconnections Using a Somatic Focus

Therapy is more effective when we assess our clients’ “resiliency” accurately at each moment. The more acutely the therapist tracks subtle shifts to more hyper- and hypo-arousal, the closer the therapy can focus on problematic dynamics that cause our clients to disconnect. Somatic signs lead us into non-verbal processes, as do numerous other indicators of client disconnection from full presence. These crucial “non-presenting problems” strongly impact therapy. Tracking “disconnections” guides us into our clients’ process: somatic bracing, incongruities (smiling when sad), rhetorical questions, collapsing, vagueness, interrupting self, wishing/hoping, signs of sympathetic and dorsal vagal activation, shifts in contact, and more.