Somatic Healing for Eating Disorder Recovery: A Trauma-Informed, Body-Based Approach

Ever tried meditating and ended up just thinking about snacks or your to-do list? Yeah, same.

Luckily, meditating is not the only way to feel more embodied. In fact, if you are struggling with the impact of trauma or an eating disorder, some mindfulness tactics might even make you feel more activated instead of calm. In my practice, I use somatic therapy to help my clients find trauma healing and make peace with their body. Somatic trauma healing incorporates nervous system work into traditional therapy, resulting in a compassionate, body-first alternative to purely cognitive approaches.

Whether you are someone attempting recovery for the first time, a clinician, or a human in the “I’ve tried everything and it’s not getting better crowd”, a somatic, trauma-informed approach to healing can be a powerful addition to eating disorder treatment. 

What Is Somatic Trauma Healing, Really?

Somatic = body. In therapy, this means connecting with your actual physical self—not just your logical brain. (Fun fact, the word actually comes from the Greek origin “soma”, meaning body.)

Trauma = “an emotional response to a terrible event”, according to the American Psychological Association. 

Healing = The awkward, messy process of putting yourself back together–usually with tears, maybe some naps, and definitely your favorite snacks.

When you put all of these together, somatic trauma healing is a way of putting yourself back together after a terrible event, through connection with your body. While this approach incorporates a lot of the elements of traditional talk therapy, it also also incorporates techniques that help to heal the nervous system. Essentially, working with a somatically trained therapist gives you all of the same benefits of traditional talk therapy with a little extra boost. 

Since trauma lives in the body, enhancing therapy with somatics can be incredibly helpful for those who have been impacted by trauma. In my work as a clinician, I have seen a lot of overlap between eating disorders and trauma. I've witnessed a lot of people who really struggle in maintaining recovery because they weren’t treated with a trauma-informed approach. If you can relate, it might be worth contacting a somatic therapist.

How Trauma and Eating Disorders Get Tangled Up

Some of trauma’s greatest hits include: childhood neglect, abuse, chronic stress, and societal pressure (hi, diet culture). Basically, everyone has encountered trauma at some point in their life. If that is the case, it might leave you wondering why trauma impacts some people so heavily but not others. The truth is that's a complicated answer. But, one of the biggest problems with trauma is not necessarily what happened – it’s about what didn’t get to happen. (I speak more to this dynamic and what can result in trauma being unresolved in my blog post “Somatic Experiencing: Healing Trauma Stored in the Body”, so check that out if you want a more in-depth explanation.) Sometimes this dynamic for people with unresolved trauma can fuel disordered eating patterns.

If you are a person with unresolved trauma, your body might be stuck in an overactive fight, flight, or freeze response. For some people, this can be channeled into food and body image. For example, purging can show up as a fight response when food or weight gain is perceived as the threat. Restriction that starts as a way to manage a fight or flight state can plunge the nervous system into freeze as the body believes it is no longer capable of overcoming or getting away from the perceived threat. If childhood trauma taught a person that being seen means getting hurt, the flight response can fuel the desire to shrink their body. 

For many people, eating disorder behaviors are responses that once helped them survive. While it makes sense, it’s dangerous. Even though an eating disorder can feel like it is keeping you safe, it can quickly become life-threatening.

Why Traditional Talk Therapy Isn’t Always Enough

Traditionally, talk therapy has relied mostly on cognitive-based approaches. While these methods definitely have their place, more recent modalities are beginning to recognize the importance of incorporating the body into treatment. This is especially true when we are talking about symptoms related to trauma. I often tell my clients that you can’t really logic your way out of a trauma response, and there is a biological reason as to why.

Things like trauma, sensory processing difficulties, and even some anxiety related disorders tend to respond really well to bottom-up (body first) approach, as opposed to a top-down (mind first) approach. This is because when someone is experiencing a trauma response or a panic attack, activity in the prefrontal cortex (the decision making center of the brain) decreases, activity in the amygdala (the emotion center of the brain) revs up, and the nervous system prepares itself to respond to danger. When we attempt to treat a person in a trauma response solely with a top-down approach (one that encourages them to strategically modify their thoughts and behaviors), we are trying to get them to use a part of their brain (the prefrontal cortex) that is no longer online. By using a bottom-up approach first by helping them to calm the body, we can de-activate that threat response and get the decision making center of the brain back online. When we do this, then using a top-down approach can be way more effective. 

I know that is a lot of information in one tiny little paragraph. But, what I am essentially trying to explain is that traditional talk therapy isn’t always enough, and people get missed when we don’t acknowledge that. In almost a decade of working in treatment centers, I saw this dynamic play out way too many times. That is why in my private practice, I use a trauma informed, somatic based approach to healing. 

Real-Life Benefits of Somatic Healing in ED Recovery

Rebuilding body trust

This is one of the biggest reasons that I feel somatic work can be helpful in eating disorder recovery. Both eating disorders and trauma can have a huge impact on a person’s relationship with their body. It can really make you feel like you are at war with your body–the one place that will always be home while you are on this Earth (whether we like it or not). Using a somatic approach, we can work towards rebuilding that trust with your body. This is essential if you are working towards Intuitive Eating in eating disorder recovery.

Reducing dissociation and numbness

Dissociation and numbness can be the body’s reaction to trauma, and sometimes that trauma comes in the form of eating disorder behaviors. Things like restricting food intake, purging, and overexercising are dangerous and often trigger your nervous system to move into a threat response. When nutrients essential to your body’s survival are threatened, it makes sense for your body to protect itself. This can lead to feeling numb, foggy, or disconnected. Somatic therapy (combined with medical oversight and nutritional rehabilitation) can help your nervous system to come alive again as you go through eating disorder recovery.

Soothing the nervous system

Speaking of the nervous system, eating disorder behaviors can cause your nervous system to get all out of whack. We talked a little about dissociation and numbness, but a dysregulated nervous system can also cause symptoms like hypervigilance, muscle tension, digestive issues, unstable mood, and more. Even if you can’t clearly define a trauma history, your eating disorder is traumatic to your body. So, your nervous system is likely going to need some help to chill out again. Somatic work could be just what you need to help it feel soothed.

Creating new, embodied coping tools

I often tell my clients that eating disorders might seem like they are all about food and body image, but they aren’t really. In other words, there is something else going on underneath all of the ED noise. You weren’t born struggling with food and hating your body, but something along the way caused things to change. Life happened, emotions became overwhelming, and you didn’t have the coping skills available to make yourself feel better. So, your eating disorder became your coping skill–your one stop shop to immediately "fix" emotional discomfort. The problem is that in the long run, your eating disorder hurts more than it helps. By using a somatic approach, we can make emotions feel more manageable, create safety in embodiment, and teach you effective coping skills that you can take anywhere. 

Common Myths About Somatic Work

It makes sense if you feel a little skeptical when you hear that somatic work incorporates the body into traditional talk therapy. Like, “You want me to connect with my body?” But, I promise it is not as weird as it sounds. In fact, it might be just what you’ve been looking for. Let’s take a look at some of the common concerns I hear about somatic work. 

• “It’s too woo-woo.” False. There are no crystals required in somatic work (unless you're into that). While somatic therapy is newer to the psychology field, it does have roots in neuroscience, and there is growing research to support its effectiveness.

  
  

• “It won’t work if I don’t like my body.” False, again. It actually might help you reconnect with your body and enhance body image work. I love using somatic approaches for my clients who struggle with body image because it adds a whole extra dimension. We don’t just work on what you see in the mirror, we get to work on your entire relationship with your body.

  
  

• “I have to be super spiritual.” Nope—you just gotta be human. Somatic Experiencing isn’t a spiritual practice. Like I mentioned before, there are research studies backing this stuff up, and it focuses on actual things that your body does. Can there be a spiritual element to somatic work? Sure. But, there doesn’t have to be if that isn’t something that you are into.

  
  

Healing With Your Body, Not From It

Your body isn’t the enemy. It’s your home, your ally, and an incredibly wise part of your healing team. If you find yourself in a tough spot in your recovery, I encourage you to be patient and gentle with your body. As hard as that might seem, trusting your gut (literally and figuratively) is so important. Everyone’s healing process is unique, and eating disorder recovery certainly isn’t linear. But, somatic work can often make your journey feel more embodied, connected, and sustainable.

If you are thinking about incorporating some somatic healing into your treatment, I offer trauma-informed, body-based therapy for eating disorder recovery. You can book your free, 15-minute consultation using the button below.

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