Peter Levine – Peter A. Levine Full Interview – Trauma Treatment: Psychotherapy for the 21st Century

Join Linda Curran for the full one-on-one interview with trauma expert, Peter A. Levine, Ph.D. as he shares with us the current state of trauma research and its clinical applicability-including the development and evolution of his pioneering work in the field of somatic psychotherapy – Somatic Experiencing. Full of insights and wisdom, Levine addresses the issues at the heart of trauma and attachment; the upcoming DSM-5 Diagnoses and Disorders and the most effective and promising treatment modalities available to clinicians today.

Peter Levine describes in detail the development of Somatic Experiencing® – a short-term naturalistic approach to the resolution and healing of trauma. Levine’s observation – that wild prey animals, though threatened routinely, are rarely traumatized – led to the investigation of animals in the wild, and their ability to utilize their innate mechanisms to regulate and discharge the high levels of energy arousal associated with defensive survival behaviors. Levine explains how these mechanisms provide animals with a built-in “immunity” to trauma that enables them to return to normal in the aftermath of highly “charged” life-threatening experiences. Based on the fact that humans share those very mechanisms, Levine has developed a psychotherapeutic modality for working with humans who have been unable to “return to normal in the aftermath of highly charged” experiences. From single incident trauma to long-term traumatic attachments, Levine draws on his decades of clinical and research experience to share with the audience his comprehensive view of trauma treatment in the 21st Century.