The Trauma Resiliency Model: A "Bottom-Up" Intervention for Trauma Psychotherapy.

BACKGROUND

The Trauma Resiliency Model (TRM) is an innovative therapeutic approach for trauma. This "bottom-up" somatic approach comprises nine skills that use sensory awareness for emotion regulation and integration. Body-based therapies may be more effective for trauma than currently used cognitive ('top-down") and exposure therapies.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this article is to present TRM and current literature on the neuroscience of trauma and resiliency, and the rationale for body-based therapy. Two case examples illustrate the practical use of TRM therapy.

DESIGN

The literature on the neuroscience of trauma, resiliency, and somatic approaches in therapy is reviewed.

RESULTS

TRM teaches the biology of trauma responses and the practice of emotion regulation through biologically based skills. Neuroscience theory supports somatic awareness models; however, research on somatic therapies is limited.

CONCLUSIONS

Chronic distress from trauma derails the ability to live life resiliently. TRM addresses trauma processing in a gentle and invitational manner and is a novel departure from existing therapies. Despite a paucity of research on body-based therapy, these therapies have strong neurophysiologic underpinnings.