Glossary of terms used throughout this website

 

 

A. Core Modalities & Approaches

 

Experiential Therapy — A category of therapeutic approaches that work through direct, present-moment experience — for example, body sensation, movement, or guided imagery — rather than through analysis or discussion alone.

 

Holistic Counselling — An approach to counselling that treats a person as an integrated whole. Holistic counselling considers the mind, body, emotions and sense of meaning together, working on the understanding that lasting change happens at every level, not just the cognitive (mental or intellectual) level.

 

Somatic Experiencing (SE) — A specific method of somatic therapy developed by Dr Peter Levine. SE works directly with the nervous system to resolve the physiological effects of trauma, without requiring a person to relive or retell what happened.

 

Somatic Psychotherapy — A broader term for psychotherapeutic approaches that integrate body-based and talk-based methods. Somatic psychotherapy treats the body as a primary source of information and healing, alongside conventional psychological insight.

 

Somatic Therapy — A body-based approach to healing that works with the nervous system, not just the conscious mind. Somatic therapy recognises that experiences — especially traumatic ones — are held physically as well as mentally, and that, working therapeutically, the body itself holds the key to resolving them.

 

Talk Therapy — Any therapeutic approach that works primarily through conscious conversation, reflection and insight. Talk therapy is valuable but, on its own, often cannot reach trauma held at the level of the nervous system.

 

Transpersonal Psychotherapy — Often referred to as ‘the fourth wave’ of therapy, transpersonal psychotherapy / counselling works with the whole person — mind, body and soul — rather than focusing only on ‘symptoms’ or the issue/s you're coming to therapy with. It recognises that personal struggles are often connected to family history, culture, or universal human experience. It allows for spiritual and existential dimensions of healing without reference to any particular religious belief.

 

Trauma Resolution — The process of permanently resolving the nervous system's stored response to a traumatic experience, rather than simply managing or coping with its symptoms.

 

B. Trauma & Nervous System Terms

 

Accumulated Stress — The gradual build-up of stress responses over time, which may not stem from a single identifiable trauma but which can still overwhelm the nervous system's capacity to cope.

 

CPTSD (Complex PTSD) — A more pervasive form of PTSD that develops from prolonged or repeated trauma, often beginning in childhood, and which can affect a person's sense of identity, relationships and emotional regulation more broadly than single-incident PTSD. CPTSD is also increasingly being understood as ‘acquired neurodiversity / neurocomplexity’.

 

Developmental / Attachment Trauma — Trauma that occurs during childhood as a result of inconsistent caregiving, neglect, or unmet emotional needs, rather than a single traumatic incident. It shapes the nervous system's baseline sense of safety and connection from an early age.

 

Felt Sense — A term originating in Focusing (developed by Eugene Gendlin) describing the subtle, often pre-verbal bodily awareness of a situation, emotion or memory — something you sense in the body which may or may not be able to be put into words. Accessing the “felt sense” — the subtle bodily awareness of a situation or emotion — is a pathway to insight and change.

 

Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn — The four most widely recognised physiological responses to threat or trauma: fighting back, fleeing, freezing in place, or appeasing the threat (fawning). In addition to the four recognised trauma responses (fight, flight, freeze, fawn). To these well-known terms I include a fifth: fix— the pattern , familiar to many people who have experienced trauma, of constantly searching for what's wrong with ourselves and trying to fix it. While understandable to want to 'fix' ourselves, this can lead to trying many, often conflicting approaches, rather than finding and following an integrated, overall plan to heal effectively.

 

Global High Intensity Activation (GHIA) — A state of chronic, full-body nervous system activation, in which a person feels persistently overwhelmed, wired, or unable to settle, often as a result of accumulated or unresolved stress and trauma.

 

Neurodiversity — Neurodiversity or neurocomplexity is being recognised within and outside of therapeutic settings as individuals' unique ways of processing and understanding experiences. This assumes that there is also ‘neurotypical’ processing. There is a wide range of subsets of neurodiversity, including but not limited to diagnoses such as ADD, ADHD, autism, and other conditions referred to as being ‘on the spectrum’ of neurodiversity. The work of clinicians such as Gabor Maté is leading to neurodiversity being accepted as part of the human range of experience, rather than something that is stigmatised. Incrrasingly theraposts are undersrtanding and working with the relationship between CPTSD and 'acquired neurodiversity'.

 

Nervous System Regulation — The capacity to move flexibly between states of activation and calm, rather than becoming stuck in chronic stress, shutdown, or hypervigilance. Teaching people how to regulate is a central goal of somatic therapy.

 

Neuro-Affective Relational Model (NARM) — A therapeutic model developed by Dr Laurence Heller for working with complex and developmental trauma. NARM combines psychological (top-down) and somatic (bottom-up) approaches to address the relational patterns formed in childhood.

 

Polyvagal System / Polyvagal Theory — A framework developed by Dr Stephen Porges, describing how the vagus nerve regulates our nervous system. This includes shifts between sympathetic or parasympathetic activation, and leads to a range from experiencing a sense of safety and connection (regulation) or fight, flight, fawn and shutdown (freeze). Understanding how the vagus nerve functions, and how to work with this therapeutically, underpins much of the theoretical basis for somatic trauma therapy.

 

PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) — A recognised psychological condition that can develop after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event, involving symptoms such as flashbacks, hyperarousal, avoidance and persistent distress.

 

Titration — A term borrowed from chemistry, used in Somatic Experiencing to describe working with traumatic material in small, manageable amounts, so the nervous system can process it without becoming overwhelmed or re-traumatised.

 

C. Neurophysiology Terms

 

Amygdala — A small, almond-shaped structure in the brain involved in detecting threat and triggering the fear response. Chronic stress and trauma are associated with an enlarged, more reactive amygdala; healing is associated with it settling back to a healthier size and sensitivity.

Autonomic Nervous System — The part of the nervous system responsible for automatic bodily functions, including the stress (sympathetic) and rest (parasympathetic) responses central to trauma therapy.

 

Mirror Neurons — Brain cells that activate both when we perform an action and when we observe someone else performing it, thought to underpin empathy and our capacity to be emotionally affected by another person's state — including a therapist's calming or co-regulating presence.

 

Myelination — The process by which nerve fibres become coated in a fatty layer (myelin) that allows signals to travel faster and more efficiently. Early trauma can disrupt healthy myelination; healing therapy can support its recovery.

 

Neural Pathways — The connections between neurons that the brain forms through repeated experience. Therapy can help “rewire” neural pathways associated with fear and trauma, replacing them with new, more adaptive patterns.

 

Nervous System / Central Nervous System (CNS) / Autonomic Nrevous System (ANS) — The body's network for sensing and responding to the world, including the brain, spinal cord and the autonomic nervous system that governs our automatic stress and relaxation responses. Much of what our nervous system does is below cosciois awareness, eg breathing, our heartbeat, physiological and psychological healing.

 

Neurophysiology — The study of how the nervous system functions, including how it processes stress, threat and safety — the scientific basis underpinning somatic approaches to trauma.

Vagus Nerve — The longest cranial nerve in the body, running from the brainstem to the heart, lungs and gut, and playing a central role in regulating calm, connection and the relaxation response.

 

Ventral Vagus — The branch of the vagus nerve associated with feelings of safety, social connection and calm — as opposed to the dorsal branch, associated with shutdown and collapse.

 

D. Attachment & Relationships

 

Anxious / Ambivalent Attachment — An attachment style marked by a strong need for closeness alongside a persistent fear of abandonment or rejection, often resulting in heightened sensitivity to a partner's availability.

 

Attachment Wounding — The lasting emotional and relational impact of insecure or disrupted attachment in childhood, which can affect a person's capacity for trust and intimacy in adult relationships.

 

Avoidant Attachment — An attachment style in which a person learns to minimise their need for closeness, often becoming highly self-reliant and uncomfortable with emotional intimacy.

 

Disorganised Attachment — An attachment style that combines features of both anxious and avoidant patterns, often stemming from inconsistent or frightening early caregiving, resulting in conflicting urges to seek and avoid closeness.

 

Secure Attachment — A relational style, formed through consistent and responsive early caregiving, characterised by the ability to trust, connect intimately, and self-regulate within relationship.

 

E. Concepts Related to Healing

 

The Bowl of Light — An Inuit story used as an analogy for psychological healing: a bowl full of light is covered in stones, and as each stone is removed, the light shines through. It illustrates the idea that healing is less about adding something new and more about uncovering what was there all along.

 

'The “Gift” of Trauma' (Peter Levine)— The idea that resolving trauma can leave a person with a greater capacity for joy, sensitivity and aliveness than they had before — not despite what they went through, but, in part, because of the healing it made possible.

 

Healing Crisis — A transpersonal reframe of psychological distress: rather than viewing a crisis purely as a problem to be managed, it can be understood as an opportunity for significant growth and deeper self-understanding.

 

“Kind Eyes” / Unconditional Positive Regard — A description of the therapist's warm, accepting presence, which research suggests can directly help regulate a client's nervous system. It draws on Carl Rogers' concept of unconditional positive regard: accepting a person fully, without judgement or conditions, as the foundation for therapeutic change.

 

F. Spiritual / Transpersonal Concepts

 

Authentic Self — The aspect of a person that exists beneath inherited beliefs, conditioning and ego structure — the “true nature” that transpersonal and somatic work aims to help reconnect with.

 

The Diamond Approach — A contemporary spiritual and psychological teaching developed by A.H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), which integrates depth psychology with spiritual inquiry into the nature of being, or “essence.”

 

Dis-identification — The process of recognising that you are not the same as your conditioned thoughts, beliefs or ego structure — creating enough distance from these patterns to make more conscious choices, rather than being unconsciously run by them.

 

Ego Identity / Ego Structure — The personality and sense of self that develops in childhood as a way of coping with and surviving one's environment. While necessary for healthy development, our ego structure can later become limiting if it remains entirely unconscious.

 

The Enneagram — A model of nine interconnected personality types, used as a tool for understanding deeper, often unconscious personality structures, both within therapy and as a standalone framework for self-enquiry.

 

The Soul (in a transpersonal sense) — Used not in a religious sense, but to describe the basic ground of being beneath ego identity — the deeper, often wordless dimension of a person's experience where healing can occur.

 

Spiritual Emergence / Spiritual Emergency — Terms introduced by psychiatrists Stanislav and Christina Grof to describe an intense psychological and spiritual transformation process, which can resemble — but is distinct from — a psychotic episode. When properly supported, a spiritual emergency can lead to profound healing and growth rather than purely being treated as pathology.

 

G. Therapeutic Techniques (key egs)

 

Focusing — A technique developed by Eugene Gendlin for accessing the “felt sense” — the subtle bodily awareness of a situation or emotion — as a pathway to insight and change.

 

Gestalt Chair Work — A technique from Gestalt therapy in which a client speaks to an empty chair representing another person, a part of themselves, or an emotion, to externalise and work through unresolved feelings.

 

Internal Family Systems (IFS) — A therapeutic model that understands the mind as made up of multiple “parts,” each with its own perspective and role, alongside a core, undamaged “Self.” IFS works to understand and harmonise these parts rather than eliminate them.

 

Relational Life Therapy (RLT) — A couples therapy approach developed by Terry Real, which focuses directly on relationship dynamics and patterns, often working actively and directly with both partners in the room.

 

Sandplay (Sandtray) Therapy — A therapeutic technique in which a client arranges miniature figures and objects in a sandtray, allowing unconscious material to be expressed symbolically, often without needing to be put into words.

 

Voice Dialogue — A therapeutic technique developed by Hal and Sidra Stone, sometimes called the “Psychology of Selves,” which involves identifying and speaking directly with different internal parts of the self — including parts that may usually be disowned or hidden.

 

H. Practitioner Credentials & Bodies

 

Australian Association of Holistic and Transpersonal Counsellors (AAHTC) — A peak professional body in Australia for counsellors and psychotherapists working within holistic and transpersonal frameworks.

 

Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP) — A formal qualification awarded to practitioners who have completed the multi-year training program in Somatic Experiencing through Peter Levine's USA-based Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute.

 

Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute (SETI) — The professional training and certifying body for Somatic Experiencing, founded by Dr Peter Levine.