Somatic Experience Research Articles

Analyzing personal embodied experiences: Autoethnography, feelings, and fieldwork

The embodied, emotional experiences of the participant-researcher during fieldwork can yield useful information on the social setting influencing interpreting practices when analyzed as part of ethnographic research designs. This paper presents examples of methods for collecting and analyzing somatic and affective field experiences, occurring during the simultaneous interpreting of church services, as well as the insights gained from the analysis of such experiences. The discussion is based on my autoethnographic PhD research on simultaneous interpreting in church.

Three sides to a story: Child, parent, and nurse perspectives on the child's experience during hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

The experience of children undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), including the ways in which different participants (ie, children, parents, and nurses) contribute to the overall picture of a child's experience, is poorly characterized. This study evaluated parent, child, and nurse perspectives on the experience of children during HSCT and factors contributing to interrater differences. Participants were enrolled in a multicenter, prospective study evaluating child and parent health-related quality of life over the year after HSCT. Children (n = 165) and their parents and nurses completed the Behavioral, Affective, and Somatic Experiences Scale (BASES) at baseline (before/during conditioning), 7 days after the stem cell infusion (day+7), and 21 days after the stem cell infusion (day+21). The BASES domains included Somatic Distress, Mood Disturbance, Cooperation, and Getting Along. Higher scores indicated more distress/impairment. Repeated measures models by domain assessed differences by raters and changes over time and identified other factors associated with raters' scores. Completion rates were high (≥73% across times and raters). Multivariate models revealed significant time-rater interactions, which varied by domain. For example, parent-rated Somatic Distress scores increased from baseline to day+7 and remained elevated at day+21 (P < .001); children's scores were lower than parents' scores across time points. Nurses' baseline scores were lower than parents' baseline scores, although by day+21 they were similar. Older child age was associated with higher Somatic Distress and Mood Disturbance scores. Worse parent emotional functioning was associated with lower scores across raters and domains except for Cooperation. Multirater assessments are highly feasible during HSCT. Ratings differ by several factors; considering ratings in light of such factors may deepen our understanding of the child's experience. Cancer 2017;123:3159-66. © 2017 American Cancer Society.

Changing hands: persistent alterations to body image following brief exposure to multisensory distortions

The dynamic flexibility of body representation has been highlighted through numerous lines of research that range from clinical studies reporting disorders of body ownership, to experimentally induced somatic illusions that have provided evidence for the embodiment of manipulated representations and even fake limbs. While most studies have reported that enlargement of body parts alters somatic perception, and that these can be more readily embodied, shrunken body parts have not been found to consistently alter somatic experiences, perhaps due to reduced feelings of ownership over smaller body parts. Over two experiments, we aimed to investigate the mechanisms responsible for altered somatic representations following exposure to both enlarged and shrunken body parts. Participants were given the impression that their hand and index finger were either longer or shorter than veridical length and asked to judge veridical finger length using online and offline size estimation tasks, as well as to report the degree of ownership towards the distorted finger and hand representations. Ownership was claimed over all distorted representations of the hand and finger and no differences were seen across ownership ratings, while the online and offline measurements of perceived size demonstrated differing response patterns. These findings suggest that ownership towards manipulated body representations is more bidirectional than previously thought and also suggest differences in perceived body representation with respect to the method of measurement suggesting that online and offline tasks may tap into different aspects of body representation.

Yoga Jam: Remixing kīrtan in the Art of Living

Yoga Jam are a group of musicians from the United Kingdom who are active members of the Art of Living, a transnational Hindu-derived meditation group. Yoga Jam organize events—also referred to as yoga raves and yoga remixes—that combine Hindu devotional songs (bhajans) and chants (mantras) with modern Western popular musical genres, such as soul, rock, and particularly electronic dance music. This hybrid music is often played in a clublike setting, and dancing is interspersed with yoga and meditation. Yoga jams are creative fusions of what at first sight seem to be two incompatible phenomena—modern electronic dance music culture and ancient yogic traditions. However, yoga jams make sense if the Durkheimian distinction between the sacred and the profane is challenged, and if tradition and modernity are not understood as existing in a sort of inverse relationship. This paper argues that yoga raves are authenticated through the somatic experience of the modern popular cultural phenomenon of clubbing combined with therapeutic yoga practices and validated by identifying this experience with a reimagined Vedic tradition.

Ways of encoding somatic information and their effects on retrospective symptom reporting.

Retrospective symptom reports tend to overestimate actual symptom intensity. This study explored how focusing on sensory-perceptual or on affective-motivational aspects of a somatic experience influenced retrospective symptom reports in high and low habitual symptom reporters (HSR). We hypothesized that a focus on affective-motivational aspects of somatic episodes contributes to retrospective overestimation compared to a focus on sensory-perceptual aspects. Dyspnoea (rebreathing) and pain (cold pain) were induced during two experimental sessions in healthy women: 21 high and 24 low HSR, selected using cut-off scores on a symptom checklist. Within-subject manipulation of sensory and affective processing focus (PF) took place at the encoding phase before symptom induction. Dyspnoea and pain ratings were collected immediately after the symptom inductions and after 2weeks. Breathing behaviour was recorded during dyspnoea trials, while affective state and symptom measures were collected after each trial. Compared to pain, dyspnoea induction was perceived as more unpleasant, arousing, and threatening (ps<.001). Affective PF led to higher arousal (p<.01) and threat ratings (p=.01) than sensory PF. Affective PF also led to an increase in retrospective dyspnoea ratings over the course of 2weeks (p=.039), which was not observed for pain, nor for dyspnoea after sensory PF. The effects of PF on symptom ratings were independent of the HSR levels. The PF during symptom encoding may explain previously observed bias in retrospective symptom reporting. The results are relevant to understand the mechanisms underlying symptom overreporting. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Retrospective symptom ratings are often biased when compared to the momentary assessments. Attending to either sensory or affective aspects of the somatic experience is one of the factors affecting self-reported symptoms. What does this study add? Focusing on affective aspects elicited by the somatic experience led to an increase in retrospective symptom ratings over time. This is particularly so for more aversive somatic experiences. Directing the processing focus to sensory aspects during symptom encoding can attenuate bias in retrospective symptom reporting.

A naturalistic study of a brief treatment program for survivors of complex trauma

ABSTRACTThe impact of chronic trauma can be longstanding, affecting survivor affect regulation, consciousness, interpersonal functioning, perceptions of self and others, self-regulation, and somatic experience. There is a growing consensus that multimodal and staged approaches to treatment are necessary to promote healing. However, empirical investigations of such treatments are still needed. The current study used a naturalistic design to examine the impact of a brief, yet intensive, outpatient program on complex PTSD symptoms and attachment classification among women with histories of chronic trauma. Fifty-four women were assessed and followed over an 8-week intervention and six-month follow-up. Significant improvement over time was found for PTSD symptoms, dissociation, emotion regulation, interpersonal problems, sexual problems, alexithymia, and posttraumatic growth. Nearly, all women met criteria for PTSD at baseline, a third of the women who completed the measures no longer had PTSD post-treatment, and 60% showed a clinically significant reduction in PTSD symptoms. Finally, thirty-six women were classified as unresolved on the Adult Attachment Projective. Post-treatment, nine of 26 women who provided follow-up data were no longer classified as unresolved. Notably, those women whose attachment category changed also showed the greatest improvement in all other outcomes. Altogether, these findings suggest that an intensive, stage 1, and multimodal treatment program can benefit women with histories of chronic traumatization.

Revisiting the destiny compulsion

Translations of summaryThis paper is an attempt to deal with some questions raised by the so‐called ‘compulsion of destiny’ constellation. In presenting the standpoints of Freud and of psychoanalysts who after him were concerned with this problematic, the author takes the view that several aspects of the configuration merit further discussion. Accordingly, the dynamics of repetition compulsion, the complexity of the projective strategy, the coexistence of passive and omnipotent trends are considered. Concerning compulsive repetitions the dimension of drive intrication is underlined, thus moderating the understanding of this clinical entity as mainly related to death drive trends. Projection is understood as serving complex psychic demands. The coexistence of passive and omnipotent trends is envisaged, as manifested in phantasies of submission / participation of patients to a force that exceeds human limitations. For certain cases the consonance of somatic and psychic experiences is noted. Finally, elements from the material of two cases are presented which pertain to the problematic of the compulsion of destiny in which random events are submitted to heavy psychic necessities.

Qualia and Ontology: Language, Semiotics, and Materiality; an Introduction

AbstractQualia—sensory experiences of abstract qualities such as heat, texture, color, sound, stink, hardness, and so on—focus attention on prototypically “material” entities. But how is the ontological category of materiality constituted by conventional qualities, or qualisigns? For instance, how does the sound made by knuckles knocking on a table come to be an exemplary experience of, and a conventional sign for, “materiality”? What ontologies might undermine the seeming naturalness of this category, and to what effect? This issue contributes to the growing literature on semiotic approaches to materiality by arguing that attention to qualia, as sensorial and somatic experiences mediated by cultural qualisigns of value (Munn 1986), offers a useful analytic approach to the dialectics of matter (substrate, affordance) and nonmatter (idea, concept, category). The articles in this issue describe how modes of being and becoming are represented in and organized by discourses on qualia and demonstrate the cruci...

Projekt depatologizacji uczuć negatywnych O książce Ann Cvetkovich Depression: A Public Feeling

In the book Depression: A Public Feeling Ann Cvetkovich uses her own memoir of depression as a research material and organizes around it some scientific ideas presented in a critical essay. Cvetkovich’s voice on the matter of depression, whose task was to (re-)introduce private feelings into the public sphere, can be read as an autopathographic analysis of the illness discourse. However, the critical task of her writing is to depathologize depression (to stop describing it as bad or unproductive) and emphasize that it can be valuable in society as a cause of change. Cvetkovich describes and analyzes her own affective and somatic experiences of depression from the very beginning of her academic career. In this article I analyze Cvetkovich’s book as an interesting affective fusion of the depression journal and speculative (critical) essay. The aim of the article is also to point to the link between late capitalism and depression, especially in the sphere of social moods, made by Lauren Berlant and Ann Cvetkovich.

Hunting for a missing link: between cognitive framework and classroom practices

The problem discussed in this article is the result of a conference on research on the importance of cognitive linguistics for teaching / learning foreign languages. Despite the high methodological standards, the introduction of cognitive grammar in the classroom showed a "missing link" between concepts and reality. In the article, the author describes exercises that should help students discover the correlation between language and somatic experience. The workshop consists of two stages: (i) introduction to the concept of image patterns as conceptual structures of our organization of cognitive function; (II) sample analysis of patterns of image organizing the semantic structure of the chosen language expressions.

Resistance, early engagement and outcome in psychoanalytic psychotherapy of patients with psychosomatic disorders

AbstractBackgroundDifficulties engaging people with psychosomatic disorders in psychotherapy are widely recognised. Such patients are often reluctant to participate in psychotherapy and to consider the contribution of psychological factors to their somatic experience. However, less is known about effective ways to address what is commonly referred to as resistance to psychotherapy among this population.ObjectivesTo study early engagement, client resistance and the impact of therapist response on outcome in treatment of psychosomatic disorders.MethodologyMixed methods were used in a naturalistic longitudinal study of 22 psychotherapeutic treatments of patients with psychosomatic disorders.ResultsPersistence with treatment was associated with better outcome. The extent to which therapists addressed patients’ in‐session distress was associated with persistence with treatment, even when distress was not resolved.DiscussionResults do not allow attribution of causality but indicate that further research investigating therapist recognition of and response to client distress may be important in the development of more effective psychotherapeutic response to people with psychosomatic disorders.

To Know Another Inside and Out: Linking Psychic and Somatic Experience in Eating Disorders

ABSTRACTThis article explores the role of the body in the psychoanalytic treatment of eating disorders from a relational and developmental perspective. Many who struggle with eating disorders and related issues have had early experiences that adversely affected the development of flexible, adaptive self-regulation, including the ability to experience affects as psychic states that can be safely shared in the context of a relationship. Because of their difficulty symbolizing and expressing feelings, patients with eating disorders often experience affects as somatic problems, for which they seek somatic solutions. Tuning in to patients’ bodily experience can open up pathways for accessing and, eventually, verbalizing and reflecting on internal states in the therapeutic relationship. As shown through a detailed case illustration, the therapist can discover and engage aspects of the intersubjective matrix that may not meet the eye by attending to his or her own bodily experiences and associations in and out of sessions.

The haptic pleasures of ground-feel: The role of textured terrain in motivating regular exercise

This paper explores the role that somatic or bodily touch-based experience of ground surface textures plays in securing a commitment to health-giving exercise practices, and argues that ground-feel is a neglected and underrated dimension of how environments co-constitute health. Past work has largely either overlooked ground-feel or positioned rough ground solely as a barrier to bodily movement. This research, however, informed by mobile and video ethnographies of walking and mountain biking in Scotland, elaborates a number of ways in which the experience of textured terrain can produce sensory and emotional experiences that motivate regular exercise. The possibility of positive tactile as well as visual experiences of landscapes, including uneven as well as smooth surfaces, ought then to be taken more seriously in designing everyday outdoor environments that encourage the energetic movement of bodies. A key challenge is to identify the optimal mix of textured and smooth ground surfaces to encourage increased energetic engagement for the widest range of users.

Breath, tremoring, and performance anxiety: How can Fitzmaurice Voicework’s Destructuring address performance anxiety in undergraduate acting training?

This study explores the relationship between the student experience of performance anxiety and Fitzmaurice Voicework’s Destructuring in undergraduate actor training. While current voice texts primarily focus on reducing habitual tension through various exercises, the acute and detrimental experience of performance anxiety is not fully addressed. However, the problem does not solely exist in the lack of literature for voice pedagogy, but is threefold: 1) Systemic: there are no clear coping strategies for performance anxiety embedded in theatre or voice training; 2) Practical: voice teachers are not qualified to provide therapeutic support to students dealing with performance anxiety; and 3) Research: performance anxiety has a debilitating effect on vocal performance. Utilizing Grounded Theory as a methodology, four phases of data collection were triangulated. Three core themes emerged from the data: increased body awareness, parasympathetic activation, and self-care. From these themes, a theory was formed that Fitzmaurice Voicework’s Destructuring work can be used as a self-regulation strategy for students with performance anxiety, and also promote autonomy and resilience. Ultimately, students can use Fitzmaurice Voicework as a practical way to self-regulate and increase awareness of their somatic experiences, as well as promote self-care in their training.

Vertically- and horizontally-transmitted memories - the fading boundaries between regeneration and inheritance in planaria.

ABSTRACTThe Weismann barrier postulates that genetic information passes only from the germline to the soma and not in reverse, thus providing an obstacle to the inheritance of acquired traits. Certain organisms such as planaria – flatworms that can reproduce through asymmetric fission – avoid the limitations of this barrier, thus blurring the distinction between the processes of inheritance and development. In this paper, we re-evaluate canonical ideas about the interaction between developmental, genetic and evolutionary processes through the lens of planaria. Biased distribution of epigenetic effects in asymmetrically produced parts of a regenerating organism could increase variation and therefore affect the species' evolution. The maintenance and fixing of somatic experiences, encoded via stable biochemical or physiological states, may contribute to evolutionary processes in the absence of classically defined generations. We discuss different mechanisms that could induce asymmetry between the two organisms that eventually develop from the regenerating parts, including one particularly fascinating source – the potential capacity of the brain to produce long-lasting epigenetic changes.

When one's sense of agency goes wrong: Absent modulation of time perception by voluntary actions and reduction of perceived length of intervals in passivity symptoms in schizophrenia.

Passivity symptoms in schizophrenia are characterised by an absence of agency for actions, thoughts and other somatic experiences. Time perception and intentional binding have both been linked to agency and schizophrenia but have not been examined in passivity symptoms. Time perception and intentional binding were assessed in people with schizophrenia (n=15 with, n=24 without passivity symptoms) and 43 healthy controls using an interval estimation procedure (200, 400 and 600ms intervals) with active, passive and observed movements. People with passivity symptoms did not display action-modulation of time perception, while those without passivity symptoms estimated intervals to be the same after active and observed movements. Additionally, both clinical samples reported intervals to be shorter with increasing interval length. We propose that impaired predictive processes may produce an overreliance on external cues and, together with shorter perceived intervals, lead to the subjective loss of agency.

Psychological Symptom Amplification: Are Psychological Symptoms Subject to "Somatization"-Like Processes?

Many patients demonstrate amplified somatic symptom experiences that are felt by providers to cause excessive distress and functional impairment, and that can be diagnostically misleading. Terms attached to these presentations include somatization, medically unexplained symptoms, and, most recently, somatic symptom disorder. The analogous amplification of psychological symptoms has not been considered. Accordingly, this column makes a case for discussion and investigation of psychological symptom amplification (PSA), a process made possible by the medical legitimization of certain types of human suffering. As various forms of psychological suffering gain greater medical legitimacy, PSA becomes increasingly relevant. Circumstantial evidence suggests that unrecognized PSA may distort research findings and clinical efficacy in psychiatry. The largely symptom-based nature of psychiatric diagnosis makes PSA a challenging, but necessary, object of further scientific and clinical scrutiny.

Przegląd narzędzi diagnostycznych i metod pomiaru zespołu stresu pourazowego (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD) z możliwością wykorzystania wśród ratowników medycznych / Overview of diagnostic tools and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) measurement methods with the possibility of use among paramedics

Abstract The profession of a paramedic involves a constant contact with traumatic events - road accidents, disasters, acts of violence and so on. As a consequence of such frequent and long-lasting exposure to traumatic events, paramedics are prone to developing PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder). This is a chronic disorder impacting cognitive, emotional, behavioral and somatic experiences. As a result of a prolonged exposure to stressful events, such condition can be life threatening. There are two ways of diagnosing PTSD: structured interviews and self-rating questionnaires (self-rating scales). The researcher should choose the best method possible relying not only on its procedure. In addition, merit based factors and psychometric parameters should be taken into consideration. The present article provides an overview of both Polish as well as foreign PTSD assessment methods, which could be incorporated into the research conducted in a group of paramedics.

Ontological shifts: Multi-sensoriality and embodiment in a third wave of digital interfaces

Abstract Examining the ontology and place of digital dance within the spectrum of contemporary choreographic expression, this article proposes to consider the interweaving of interoceptive (somatic) and exteroceptive (technological) agency in a third wave of digital interfaces for dance. It argues that an ontology of digital dance might be summarily qualified as an active sensory-perceptual mode of experiencing, capable of revealing new dimensions of aesthetic reception, modes of performativity and expressions of corporeal presence in dance that emerge with/through the mediated body. It views technology not as a foreign, autonomous agency, system or simple tool, but rather as a means of stimulating heightened sensory awareness and forging relations with the individual’s somatic (inner) bodily experience. while referencing a range of recent works that establish the conditions for such experiences, it further proposes to consider how digital works develop and underscore perspective as a dramaturgical strategy and aesthetic, and as a consequence, how new media interfaces for dance can be considered ‘new viewing-sensing devices’.

The Analyst’s Body at Work: Utilizing Touch and Sensory Experience in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapies

This paper discusses the functions of somatic experience within the therapeutic and analytic processes as both the nonverbal expression of conflicts long held within the patient’s (or analyst’s) body structure as well as a movement toward self-agency. Therapeutic attention and responsiveness to nonverbal communications and spontaneous bodily actions are seen as providing significant avenues of access to the forward intentionality of unconscious, dissociated states of being. Direct, analytic involvement with somatic experience is illustrated through sensate focus, movement, and physical contact between patient and therapist.