Here’s information about psycho sensory techniques, how conventional therapists and anxiety coaches use them, and the benefits for clients dealing with overwhelm, burnout, and anxiety.
Some Psycho Sensory Techniques Available Today
Psycho sensory techniques use sensory input to alter a person’s mood, sensations, thinking, and behaviour. These techniques can be categorised into two major divisions: those activated by a particular memory and those where the mind is not directed to a specific memory. Some examples include:
- Havening Techniques®: This psychosensory treatment uses simple touch to permanently eliminate unwanted feelings, both somatic and emotional, from distressing memories and events. It is also useful for promoting professional and personal growth. There are different types of Havening, including Facilitated Havening, Facilitated Self-Havening, and Self-Havening.
- Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT): A technique that combines acupressure with elements of cognitive therapy to address emotional issues.
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): A therapy technique where the client focuses on a traumatic memory while simultaneously performing specific eye movements. This helps to reprocess the memory and reduce its emotional impact.
- Thought Field Therapy (TFT): TFT involves tapping on specific body points in a particular sequence while focusing on a distressing thought or emotion.
- Yoga: Combines physical postures, breathing techniques, and meditation to promote relaxation and reduce stress.
- Aromatherapy: The use of essential oils to influence mood and promote relaxation.
- Craniosacral Therapy: A gentle, hands-on therapy that aims to release tension in the central nervous system.
- Meditation/Relaxation: Techniques used to calm the mind and reduce stress. Mindfulness, a specific type of meditation, focuses on paying attention in the present moment.
- Biofeedback/Neurofeedback: Techniques that provide real-time feedback on physiological functions to promote self-regulation.
- Music Therapy: The use of music to address emotional, cognitive, and physical needs.
- Massage Therapy: The manipulation of soft tissues to relieve muscle tension and promote relaxation.
How Conventional Therapists Use Psycho Sensory Techniques
Conventional therapists can integrate psycho sensory techniques into their practice to enhance treatment outcomes. Some ways they may do this include:
- Adjunct to Talk Therapy: Psycho sensory techniques can be combined with traditional talk therapy (psychotherapy) to deepen understanding and resolve issues that are not easily accessible through conversation alone.
- Trauma Treatment: Techniques like EMDR and Havening are used to depotentiate traumatically encoded experiences in the amygdala. These techniques help clients reprocess traumatic memories and reduce their emotional intensity.
- Anxiety Reduction: Psycho sensory techniques can be used to downregulate the response to stressors and prevent the generation of symptoms.
- Somatic Therapies: Therapists may use body-oriented approaches to draw out sensory information blocked by trauma, help patients befriend the energies released by inner experience, and complete the self-preserving physical actions that were thwarted when they were trapped or immobilized by terror.
Benefits for the Client
The benefits of using psycho sensory techniques include:
- Emotional Regulation: Psycho sensory techniques help clients manage and regulate their emotional responses to stress and trauma.
- Stress Reduction: These techniques can downregulate the body’s stress response, promoting relaxation and reducing overall tension.
- Enhanced Self-Awareness: Mindful touch and other psycho sensory methods can increase awareness of bodily sensations and emotions, fostering a deeper connection with oneself.
- Improved Coping Skills: Clients learn new ways of dealing with anxiety and stress, building resilience and reducing reliance on maladaptive coping mechanisms.
- Accessing a Sense of Self: Havening is a tool that therapists can use that allows clients to access more readily a sense of self.
- Addresses Trauma: By being able to deal with trauma in a safe and supportive way psycho sensory techniques can provide the client with a path for healing and growth.
- Complements Other Therapies: Psycho sensory techniques may be easily combined with other forms of treatment to enhance overall effect.
How an Anxiety Coach Uses Psycho Sensory Techniques
An anxiety coach can specifically use psycho sensory techniques when working with people suffering from overwhelm, burnout, and anxiety to:
- Reduce Baseline Stress: Techniques like Havening can reduce the stress stored in the body, lowering the overall allostatic load.
- Build Resilience and Positivity: Psycho sensory techniques can increase access to positive emotions and build resilience to future stressors.
- Relieve Present Moment Distress: When clients are experiencing acute emotional distress, psycho sensory techniques can provide immediate relief.
- Address Underlying Trauma: Coaches may use Havening Therapy to track back and find seed events that contribute to overwhelm and anxiety.
- Values Clarification: Psycho sensory techniques may be used to clarify personal values and help clients align their behaviour with what truly matters to them, reducing the impact of anxiety on their choices.
- Encourage Self-Compassion: An anxiety coach can provide guidance for how to be compassionate to yourself. They will show you to validate your feelings, look at situations from alternate perspectives, and provide techniques to use in order to feel more self-compassionate.
By integrating psycho sensory techniques into their practice, anxiety coaches can offer clients powerful tools to manage overwhelm, burnout, and anxiety, promoting greater well-being and resilience.
Summary: Psycho sensory techniques use sensory input to alter mood and behaviour. Techniques like Havening, EFT, EMDR, and mindfulness can be used by conventional therapists as adjuncts to talk therapy to treat trauma and reduce anxiety. Benefits include emotional regulation, stress reduction, self-awareness, and improved coping skills. Anxiety coaches use these techniques to reduce stress, build resilience, address trauma, and clarify values, enabling clients to manage overwhelm, burnout, and anxiety effectively.
Tags: psycho sensory techniques, Havening, EMDR, EFT, mindfulness, anxiety, overwhelm, burnout, trauma, emotional regulation, self-compassion.