Somatic Experiencing® vs. Organic Intelligence®
Welcome to: Somatic Experiencing vs Organic Intelligence
I’m Dr. Bach Ho, independent thinker, exploring nervous system deregulation (NSD), Organic Intelligence®, and Objectivism
Two people. Organic Intelligence Chick (OI Chick) and Somatic Experiencing / Organic Intelligence Bro (SE/OI Bro)
OI Chick
I don’t like that you put Somatic Experiencing and Organic Intelligence together in your marketing
SE/OI Bro
Why not? I’m trained in both. I’m also trained in EMDR. I mention all three in my marketing
OI Chick
But you put SE and OI together, with a slash in between. You treat them together. Whereas you list EMDR separately
SE/OI Bro
Well there’s a lot of overlap. I mean the Founder of OI came from SE and basically just repackaged it, like changing SIBAM to ISOMA
OI Chick
That seems like quite an accusation
What do you say to the claim that SE and OI are fundamentally different?
That SE focuses on trauma and on sensations
That OI says we need to move away from focus on trauma and towards capacity growth; and work with all aspects of experience, not just or primarily sensations, and prioritize orientation and pleasure and not getting too intense, and prioritize image work in many crucial cases? And how all of this rests on the premise of organic intensity thresholds?
SE/OI Bro
I know SE people who in their SE work prioritize orientation, pleasure, not getting too intense, and working with aspects of experience other than sensation
People will say, “Well all that came from the Founder of OI, so OI should get credit”
If it did come from him, then, yes, and I don’t know what all came from him and what not
And how would anyone else know, besides the inner circle of people who were around back then?
I’m trained in both SE and OI and I credit both
And the distinction between focusing on trauma and focusing on capacity growth is not that important. Whatever the conceptualization–e.g., focus on healing trauma, focus on capacity growth–we’re helping people feel better; that’s the bottom line
Furthermore, OI curriculum does address trauma, which contradicts OI’s position of not focusing on trauma
OI Chick
You’re saying there’s a lot of overlap between SE and OI work;
and unclarity about the difference between the two;
and that only the inner circle of people who were around back then know what all came from the Founder of OI and what not;
and whether you conceptualize the work as healing trauma or growing capacity is not that important; the bottom line is you’re helping people feel better;
and that OI does address trauma, which contradicts its advocating for not focusing on trauma
SE/OI Bro
Exactly
OI Chick
Even if you’re right, the Founder of OI takes OI to be fundamentally different. Doesn’t that push for separating them in your listing?
SE/OI Bro
No, my listing them together indicates my position that they overlap and I think it’s valid to indicate that
OI Chick
When people ask you about the difference between OI and SE, what do you say?
SE/OI Bro
I say OI focuses on orientation, pleasure, not getting too intense, focusing on all aspects of experience, not just or primarily sensations, and on capacity growth rather than on trauma, and SE focuses on trauma and primarily sensations, but at the same time, there’s a lot of overlap in OI work and SE work, as many SE people follow those things I just associated with OI, and the Founder of OI came from SE, which influenced OI’s development
OI Chick
On first impression that all sounds reasonable to me, but at the same time, how defensible it is to claim overlap I think depends on how much SE people do the OI things and on trend
If 75% of SE people do them and do them 75% of the time in their work, it’s more plausible to claim overlap than if 25% of SE people do them and do them 25% of the time in their work
With OI people, it would be (theoretically) 100% of them doing it 100% of the time
If SE people say “Where do you feel that in your body?” and “Let’s track your sensations” twice as often as OI people do, and spot orientation half as frequently, it’s less defensible to claim overlap
If over time in SE, there’s less and less focus on orientation, pleasure, and not getting too intense, that makes a claim of overlap less defensible
In OI, those things are the explicit, primary focus
SE/OI Bro
I will think about what you said
OI Chick
Also, OI is still being developed by its Founder and we don’t know what shape it will take
I think that makes a claim of overlap less defensible
SE/OI Bro
I will think on that
Thank you for reading.
Organic Intelligence® is an approach to capacity growth developed by Steve Hoskinson.
Dr. Bach Ho independently explores and discusses Organic Intelligence®, and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or a representative of the Organic Intelligence® organization.
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