Sensorimotor

General Information

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (SP) is a body-oriented talking therapy that combines cognitive and emotional approaches, verbal dialogue, and physical interventions to directly influence implicit memories and the neurobiological consequences of trauma. Using bodily experience as the primary point of entry into trauma therapy, rather than the events of the “story,” we pay attention to how the body processes information and its relationship with emotions and cognitive understanding.

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy is about following the wisdom of the body to rewire the nervous system.

Developed in the 1980s by Dr. Pat Ogden as a body-oriented talking therapy, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy is designed to purposefully address both cognitive-emotional aspects and bodily and autonomic symptoms of traumatic stress and attachment-related disorders.
It is also a somatic approach that can be easily integrated into all traditional inpatient and outpatient treatment methods for trauma-related disorders and can be used in combination with other methods, such as EMDR, cognitive-behavioral and psychodynamic therapy, to achieve maximum benefit for the client.

The Sensorimotor approach provides the trauma therapist with access to bodily patterns and memories related to the traumatic past or present, which in turn helps process the traumatic experience in its entirety.

The use of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy can be invaluable in the treatment of autonomic and affective dysregulation, which is the symptomatic legacy of traumatic events.

7 Key Characteristics of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy

1. Somatic approach

2. Supported by research in neuroscience

3. The client does not need to remember the details of the trauma in order to treat its consequences

4. Draws on psychodynamic psychotherapy, Gestalt therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and body psychotherapy

5. Focuses not only on cognitive and emotional symptoms, but also on bodily and autonomic consequences

6. Used in the treatment of trauma and disorders related to attachment

7. Addresses intrusive symptoms, numbness, and avoidance, as well as autonomic/affective dysregulation

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy in Ukraine

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy in Ukraine began its journey in October 2023 with a webinar conducted for Ukrainian professionals by the developer of the method, Dr. Pat Ogden.

October 2023
“Experiencing the Consequences: A Sensorimotor Approach to the Hidden Wounds of War”

Events and Webinars

February 2024

In February 2024, an introductory one-day training “Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: An Introduction to Working with Trauma” was conducted by Tony Buckley

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy is based on current research in neuroscience and trauma, and this technique is used to address both traumatic and non-traumatic attachment-related issues, by turning to the wisdom of the body.

At different stages of the work, we integrate emotional, cognitive, and bodily processes to achieve adaptive self-regulation strategies in relation to traumatic experience and relationships in everyday life, through embodied relational awareness. The work is aimed at expanding the emotional repertoire of the individual for healthier attachment relationships and more functional everyday life.

We explored how the body stores past trauma, and how it also provides insight into what clients need in order to recover and move forward, even if the trauma occurred decades ago. We learned what to do and where to start with simple relational awareness interventions that will help your clients engage the intelligence of their bodies.

Brief Training Plan and Objectives:

1. Defined Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and substantiated the relevance of its application in working with traumatized clients

2. Described procedural learning and its significance for trauma and childhood developmental trauma related to attachment.

3. Identified the role of the body in the treatment of trauma and childhood developmental trauma related to attachment

4. Explained how physical actions can be used to help patients feel stronger and reduce PTSD symptoms

5. Described the importance of mindfulness in trauma therapy

6. Summarized the approaches of phase-oriented therapy used in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy practice with patients who have experienced trauma

7. You will be able to apply the information and skills gained in clinical practice

Before the start of this training, Tony and I recorded a conversation

April 2024

Trainers Tony Buckley and Lisa Stokkeland conducted a webinar “The Bodily Consequences of Trauma: Perspectives from Sensorimotor Psychotherapy”.

What it was like:

People who have experienced trauma often experience recurring states of bodily dysregulation, which can disrupt their lives and sow chaos in their relationships.

Using cinema as a metaphor, this presentation will illustrate the sequence of activation/arousal through the mind and body from the first detection of a threatening stimulus to completed adaptive actions based on optimal survival during trauma.

Tracking the sequence of activation can lead to expanded possibilities for overcoming the debilitating consequences of trauma. Sensorimotor Psychotherapy achieves this by optimizing three interventions to engage instinctive networks in metabolizing a fixed trauma pattern: orienting, restoring active defence, and the sensorimotor sequence.

Professionals can incorporate these interventions into their repertoire of trauma work skills. These skills rely on directed awareness to support the innate wisdom of the body, allowing the system to reactivate in order to use survival energy to overcome the remnants of trauma.

Tony Buckley presented elements of this process through a metaphor for professionals working with trauma.

Lisa Stokkeland spoke about sensorimotor interventions and their application in more complex cases of trauma and structural dissociation.

For participants, this webinar helped develop an understanding of patterns associated with trauma and ways of releasing them. To differentiate different somatic indicators of traumatic activation from basic to more complex.

May 2025

The webinar Building Resilience During War, Violence, and Other Traumatic Events was conducted by Pat Ogden, PhD, creator and founder of SPI and Tony Buckley, MSc, SPI instructor.

In this 3-hour workshop, the instructors explain and explore somatic resource interventions and resilience strategies that emphasize and optimize stabilization and safety through body awareness.

Participants discovered somatic and sensory interventions of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, based on mindfulness, that can address some current needs of clients living in daily crisis and can be highly effective in your clinical work with those who have experienced trauma.

In this workshop, participants were able to experience and understand various somatic interventions using body awareness resources that minimize patterns of dysregulation and promote a return to natural states of calm, safety, and peaceful balance through different bodily systems.

This includes work with breathing, posture, movements, the five senses, and specific somatic techniques that provide centering and containment by activating natural sensory systems through body awareness.

Participants were provided with the Ukrainian version of the PEACE Protocol: 5 steps for activating modulation and building resilience.

PEACE Protocol