Somatic therapy recognizes that bullying is stored and expressed in the body — and that healing requires attention to bodily experience, not just thoughts.
The Somatic Perspective on Bullying
Traditional talk therapy addresses bullying primarily through cognition. Somatic approaches add the body's wisdom:
- Bullying creates physical tension, postural patterns, and nervous system states that maintain it
- The body 'keeps the score' — especially when bullying has trauma origins
- Bottom-up (body to mind) processing can access material unavailable to cognitive approaches
Somatic Therapy Approaches for Bullying
Somatic Experiencing (SE): Developed by Peter Levine, tracks bodily sensations to resolve trauma and bullying.
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Integrates somatic techniques with attachment theory for bullying.
EMDR: Uses bilateral stimulation to process traumatic memories contributing to bullying.
Body-oriented CBT: Adds somatic awareness to standard cognitive-behavioral work.
When Somatic Therapy Is Especially Helpful for Bullying
Somatic approaches are particularly valuable when bullying has trauma origins, when talk therapy has plateaued, or when physical symptoms are prominent.