Neuroanatomy of Stress and Somatic Experiencing

“Because of the size of our neocortex humans can turn on the stress response by thoughts alone. So our thoughts can make us sick and our thoughts can make us well.”

This description of the neuroanatomy of stress and the role of the neocortex and stress is anatomically incorrect. Stress is not created in our neocortex (prefrontal cortex). Stress is created in our limbic system and our amygdala. When we’re stressed our neocortex is turned off and doesn’t allow us to think well.

Thoughts don’t make us sick. Our affective (emotional) state does, which is bottom up. Being in long-term stress makes our nervous, endocrine and immune systems susceptible to sickness.

We need to down regulate these systems so we can turn our neocortex (thinking) back on and then choose our thoughts.

For those of us who experience trauma/complex trauma the process of down regulation needs to be trauma informed so we are not retraumatised.

When delivered by formally trained and experienced practitioners somatic experiencing may support nervous, endocrine and immune systems regulation. Below is a very oversimplified summary of Peter Levine’s Nine-Step Method for Transforming Trauma:

Step 1: Help create a sense of relative safety 

Step 2: Help support initial exploration and acceptance of sensations a little bit at a time

Step 3: Pendulation: the rhythm between contraction and expansion

Step 4: Titration: very carefully touching into the smallest drop if survival-based arousal

Step 5: Help contradict the passive response of collapse and helplessness, and recover active defense responses

Step 6: Help contain the sensation of arousal from Step 5 and move through that, back to homeostasis, balance and social engagement

Step 7: Help discharge and regulate the high arousal states, redistribute the mass of energy mobilised for life-preserving action, while freeing that energy to support higher level brain functions

Step 8: Engaging in self-regulation to restore dynamic equilibrium and relaxed alertness

Step 9: Help reorient in the here and now

Extract from “What Resets Our Nervous System After Trauma? with Peter Levine, PhD a Free Report from NICABM”