Analysis Of Nevine Sultan's Article 'Beyond Words'

The article “Beyond Words” written by Nevine Sultan from Counseling Today magazine introduces a new approach to counseling patients struggling with sexual trauma.
Nevine explains how trying to help patients who’ve experiences sexual trauma using strictly cognitive or emotional methods can be compared to attempting to build a house without constructing a sturdy foundation first. She states that in order to heal sexual trauma you must start by working with the body. Sultan describes a scenario with her client “Jerry”, who has experienced sexual trauma. Jerry is depicted to be tense, anxious, and with a sunken in posture. She notes that Jerry emits a sense of emptiness and is holding his breath. Jerry talks about his anxiety, panic attacks,

Nevine notices that he holds a great deal of tension in his fists. She asks Jerry to bring his attention to his fists and asks what sensations he’s feeling in that location. Jerry responds by saying” They’re stuck”. Nevine then follows with the question “What feelings a company that sense of stuckness?”. “I feel… angry” replies Jerry and breaks down. Nevine then asks what Jerry is holding in his fists and if his fists had a voice, what would they say. Jerry then again claims that they are angry. Nevine asks “What does your body need to do right now?” and Jerry responds with “I need to move”. He stands, tightens his fists and bellows “I’m so angry” repeatedly which releases most of Jerry’s built up

It only makes sense to heal the part of the body that received the trauma. Somatic therapy is a lengthier process since it deals with uncovering your deepest levels of suffering and I think that is why it’s so beneficial. Traditional cognitive therapies mostly teach coping mechanisms and short term fixes but don’t actually resolve the problem. The problem is that people want to take the easy way out and most often aren’t willing to put forth the effort it takes to heal yourself. Navines work has demonstrated how the body is much more important than we realize and is a reflection of our inner selves. I believe that the mind and body are interconnected and can be used to aid one another. It’s very intriguing to me how our inner thoughts and emotions manifest into our physical bodies, like how Jerry’s anger was embodied his tight fist, and his low self esteem could be the culprit for his poor posture.
For me this raises the question, What if other physical health problems are caused by internal problems as well? Of course physical illnesses are a much larger scale than a clenched fist and poor posture, but the same concept applies. If Jerry were to let his condition persist over time, would his internal condition evolve into more serious physical