Understanding the relationship between emotions and sensations is invaluable in helping us discover what’s going on with ourselves underneath the surface.

IFS (Internal Family Systems) is about more than just addressing emotional wounds; it’s about fostering a deep sense of connection and wholeness—both emotionally and physically.

In thinking about somatic therapy, it’s common to focus on just the body, instead of our hormones. We can’t truly separate the body and mind, the same holds true that can’t separate the importance of our hormonal systems. 

There has been a wave of mainstream acknowledgement that trauma is stored in the body, this is the second wave: moving it out.

At Downtown Somatic Therapy, we believe that Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) offers a unique and profound approach to navigating the aftermath of dishonesty in the therapeutic relationship. This extended summary explores how working from an emotionally focused perspective can facilitate somatic healing and foster authenticity after lying to your therapist.

If you are noticing a desire to not feel emotions, thoughts, and physical sensations, you may be experiencing conflict between your thinking brain and your feeling and sensing mammalian self.

In this blog post, we delve into some of the theory behind Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), shedding light on how this approach encourages a profound, genuine connection between therapist and client.

Understanding Piaget and Erikson's ages and stages of development provides a valuable framework for somatic therapists. By incorporating these theories into their practice, therapists can tailor interventions to suit their clients' cognitive and psychosocial needs.

Rushing Woman's Syndrome is a reality for many navigating the fast-paced rhythm of New York City. What’s behind the rushing? At Downtown Somatic Therapy, we believe in using this potent tool within somatic therapies that powerfully utilizes the mind-body connection.

Polyvagal theory, created by Stephen Porges, has distilled cutting-edge research about the nervous system into language that helps people make sense of their moment to moment living experience within their bodies, environment, and in relationships.

Medical trauma is any trauma that happens in connection with a medical or health experience. Like other traumas, it overwhelms the body, putting it in a state of fight, flight, or freeze. The form it takes is as diverse as the experiences of the people who endure it.

If both individuals in a couple lean toward an avoidant attachment style, a therapist may be helpful in helping to draw out the feelings gently over time from each partner one at a time.

Trauma-informed therapy refers to a therapeutic style that aims to avoid re-traumatization over the course of treatment by emphasizing a person-specific approach.

Our therapists help you identify what is getting in the way, move past blockages and help you access your true emotions, needs and desires.

The name of the game in your healing journey is to thrive as well as survive, it’s essential to gear more toward the powerful nature of positive emotions.

In somatic therapy, we make space for ancestral grief, gifts and burdens, and honor the inherent worth that grief conveys upon ourselves and our lineages.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing) focuses on emotions connected to memory with bilateral stimulation, like tapping on the body.

Couples therapy is a wonderful way to resolve conflicts, and develop deeper intimacy and connection, as well as a way to heal individual pain.

There are tons of deep breathing practices for relaxation, but did you know you can use it to heal and transform as well? Breathwork wonderfully complements the relational tools of psychotherapy.

Somatic therapy works with your “felt experience” to help you uncover what your inner critic so you can cultivate true self-acceptance and tend to your most vulnerable needs and desires.

Many New Yorkers experience anxiety on a daily basis but are uncertain how to decrease the negative effects that this stress has on their body - Somatic therapy can help.

Our clinicians find meaning and purpose in incorporating the body into the therapeutic experience. This approach is healing and experiential — it distinguishes itself from other forms of therapy.

Therapy is one outlet that can help ground you in a frenetic place like New York City. This article outlines 3 ways that therapy can help you cope with New York City’s high speed environment.

At Downtown Somatic Therapy, we believe that somatic therapy is a powerful way to address attachment wounds and to experience deep healing and a renewed sense of joy in life.

Somatic Experiencing (SE), Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), and Gestalt.

Many couples avoid talking about infidelity, or are only able to access anger, and as a result never get around to processing the grief, sadness and loss of trust that the infidelity caused.

By acknowledging, and sitting with, how depression makes us feel in our bodies, we can begin to overcome the feelings of “overwhelm” that depression can engender.

Do you struggle with anxiety and wonder how somatic therapy can help? Anxiety actually starts out as a physiological response to feelings you have learned are not ok to feel.

Pairing psychotherapy and ketamine in a process called ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) can facilitate incredible long-term healing.

By addressing physical aspects of emotional experiences, somatic therapy helps you move beyond "venting" to achieve genuine emotional healing and growth.

Emotions, when understood through somatic therapy, serve as valuable indicators of our inner state, revealing deeper truths about ourselves while requiring balanced interpretation to distinguish genuine insights from distorted responses.

Hard as it might be to fathom, there are many reasons to embrace frustration. Picture a world where we might say “have a frustrating week” instead of “a nice one.” Through somatic therapy, we can learn to harness the power of frustration, facilitating neuroplasticity and personal transformation.

There has been a wave of mainstream acknowledgement that trauma is stored in the body, this is the second wave: moving it out.

Understanding the impact of emotionally unavailable attachment figures on adult attachment patterns is a crucial aspect of the therapeutic process.

Somatic therapy harnesses our innate capacity for healing by creating space for your body to process pre-verbal complex trauma.

Somatic therapy can improve awareness of defense mechanisms, as well as provide a method for processing the feelings these defenses are covering up.

By delving into the physical sensations and bodily experiences associated with anxiety, somatic therapy can offer a pathway to calmness and relief from insomnia.

Most couples recognize that they are relating to one another in a subconscious habitual way that keeps them feeling stuck. Somatic therapy can offer strategies to help couples become unstuck and reconnect with each other.

For queer identifying people, the dating landscape often comes with unique experiences and complexities that can feel isolating, exhausting and disembodying. Somatic therapy offers some ways to manage this.

What is the role of anger in an emotionally healthy person and how can somatic therapy help someone develop a positive relationship with anger?

Many men displaying anger or engaging in escapist or risky behaviors might be unaware that these behaviors are actually symptoms of underlying depression.

What exactly is anxiety and why does it present so differently? At Downtown Somatic Therapy, we define anxiety by what happens in the body and we measure the severity of that anxiety by how it manifests physically.

Do you feel resistance to processing your emotions through your body? At Downtown Somatic Therapy, we believe in the healing through the body with the awareness that it can be quite fear-inducing for most.

Generally speaking, “Yes”, says therapist Stefan Allen-Hickey of Downtown Somatic Therapy in New York City: “the success of a relationship with this attachment style configuration relies on the couple coming to understand the emotions that underlie their partner’s response to stress”.

When we feel shame we may withdraw from others, avoid intimacy, or become defensive or angry.

Due to its mindful, body-centered approach, somatic therapy can be an effective way to address and resolve a host of issues related to sex.

Self-protective responses to shame can be a source of misunderstanding and lead to ruptures in relationships. We explore shame in relationships in this article.

If you feel ambivalent about being in therapy, this could be a portal into more transformative work with your therapist or it could be a sign that you’ve outgrown them.

If you feel ambivalent about being in therapy, this could be a portal into more transformative work with your therapist or it could be a sign that you’ve outgrown them.

How befriending your emotions impacts your day-to-day experiences and your ability to work with your emotions rather than feeling controlled by them. 

Here are strategies to help you cope with a panic attack.. The expectation is to soften how frightening the symptoms are by making the situation feel a bit more controlled. 

Experiencing anger is precisely what you want to do if you want to: increase your confidence, feel calmer, buoy your mood, bolster your ability to practice healthy boundaries, improve your relationships – and demand justice.

Many people struggle with procrastination, but are not in touch with why they are avoiding these tasks in the first place.

Do you struggle to manage perfectionism and your ‘inner critic’ in the creative process? Learn how to identify and manage anxiety related to self-expression and art.

There are unique challenges when it comes to living in New York City while managing symptoms of PTSD — but therapy can help.

Climate change anxiety can feel overwhelming to deal with. Yet DST therapist Melanie Berkowitz says that much of climate anxiety is actually healthy.

Workers don’t always have the kinds of resources to leave a toxic and unhealthy work environment. This kind of violation is called ‘Institutional Betrayal,’ a term coined by psychologist and researcher, Dr. Jennifer Freyd.

Sometimes one mental health diagnosis co-exists with another one. In the world of eating disorders, depression is the most commonly associated mental health diagnosis.

Those of us with anxious attachment style need to take extra care to watch out for ways we may be self-sabotaging our romantic relationships.