Why Traditional Psychology Doesn't Work 70% Of The Time - And What Actually Works

If you’ve spent years in therapy but still feel stuck, you’re not alone. The majority of my clients arrive at my 8-week healing program having “tried everything.” Talk therapy, years of counselling, even medication. And yet… the pain lingers. The patterns persist. The triggers are still in control. The anxiety returns. Why is that?

Here is what the research says about traditional psychotherapy success rates:

Psychotherapy or psychology (also known as talk therapy) can be a life-changing tool for some. It provides a safe space to be heard, to reflect, and to develop coping strategies. But it doesn’t go deep enough to resolve the root causes of trauma, anxiety, chronic stress, or emotional dysregulation.

• Estimated non-response / failure rate: 30%–50% of people who engage in psychotherapy do not experience significant improvement.

• 5%–10% may actually feel worse during or after therapy.

• These numbers vary based on:

  • The type of therapy used (e.g., CBT, psychology, interpersonal therapy)

  • The issue being treated

  • The skill and attunement of the therapist

  • The client’s readiness, support system, and nervous system capacity

This isn’t about blaming therapists or clients, it’s about recognising the limitations of a mind only approach to healing.

Psychotherapy focuses on mental insight and verbal processing. While this can offer clarity and support, it often bypasses the body's deeper wisdom and stored emotional memory.

Here are a few reasons why traditional psychology does not create lasting change:

1. It stays in the head: Trauma isn’t just a memory, it’s a felt experience lodged in the body's cellular memory. Talking about it doesn't move, much less release it.

2. Mismatch between therapist and client: Healing requires deep relational safety. Without a strong therapeutic alliance, the nervous system won’t relax enough to change.

3. Lack of emotional resonance: During their medical training, medical professionals and psychotherapists are taught to maintain emotional detachment, never to become involved or connected with their patient. This detachment and lack of emotional presence hinders healing. True transformation occurs in the space of felt resonance, where the practitioner’s regulated nervous system, open heart, and energetic field offer a safe co-regulatory space for the client to unwind. Without this human-to-human connection, the body never feels truly safe enough to let go.

4. Resistance and overwhelm: Revisiting trauma through words can feel re-traumatising without tools to regulate the body’s stress response.

5. Slow or unfocused progress: Many therapy models don’t directly address the nervous system, energetic patterns, or subconscious blocks that drive unwanted behaviours.

6. Unprocessed trauma stored in the body: Neuroscience confirms what many ancient cultures have long known: the body keeps the score. Without including the body, healing remains incomplete.

So What Does Work?

Somatic therapy. Body-based, trauma-informed, nervous-system-aware healing.

Somatic therapy is a holistic approach that works with the entire being, mind, body, emotions, and energy field. It invites the nervous system to release stored tension and unresolved trauma through body awareness, gentle movement, breathwork, and co-regulation.

Rather than focusing only on the story, somatic therapy helps your body:

• Discharge fight, flight, freeze responses

• Complete interrupted survival cycles

• Restore a felt sense of safety and inner connection

• Integrate fragmented or overwhelmed parts of you

It’s not about rehashing your trauma. It’s about giving your body what it never got at the time: resolution, safety, and support.

Success Rates of Somatic Therapy

While fewer large-scale studies exist for somatic therapy (because it’s a newer field), the data is promising and so are the lived experiences of thousands of clients.

• Estimated non-response / failure rate: ~10%–20%

• Many trauma survivors report significant relief within a few sessions

• Especially effective for:

  • PTSD

  • Developmental trauma

  • Anxiety and dissociation

  • Chronic stress and nervous system dysregulation

Unlike talk therapy, somatic work does not rely on memory or language. It meets you where trauma lives, in the body.

Why Somatic Therapy Helps When Nothing Else Does

• It works below the level of words: You don’t have to relive or explain everything. Healing happens through sensation, not just storytelling.

• It restores nervous system safety: When your body feels safe, everything changes, your thoughts, your reactions, your relationships.

• It integrates body, mind, and spirit: You are not just a brain in a jar. Your body holds deep intelligence and when it's invited into the healing process, transformation accelerates.

• It honours your pace: Somatic healing respects your nervous system’s thresholds. It’s gentle, responsive, and deeply empowering.

My 8-Week Healing Program: What Happens When You Finally Heal

Clients often tell me:“This is the first thing that’s ever actually worked.”

My 8-week one-on-one program weaves somatic therapy with neuroscience, energy healing, inner child work, and intuitive guidance. It’s trauma-informed, heart-led, and results-based.

Here’s what we focus on:

• Regulating your nervous system

• Releasing stored trauma and emotional imprints

• Reconnecting with your intuition and higher self

• Creating new energetic pathways for a life of peace, clarity, and joy

You won’t just learn tools, you’ll experience true inner peace and lasting change.

Real Healing Is Possible!

If you’ve been in therapy for years and still feel stuck, know this: You’re not alone. There are therapists who truly understand, who work differently, and who see you as a spiritual being, not just a diagnosis. Healing becomes possible when you’re finally met with presence, safety, and an authentic connection.

Talk therapy may have offered support, insight, or even kept you afloat, but it likely didn’t reach the deep places where trauma is stored.

Somatic work does. And it’s never too late to heal.

Still Wondering If This Is Right for You?

If any of this resonates, I invite you to:

• Reach out for a clarity call

• Read testimonials from others who finally found relief

• Trust that your body and soul already know the way home

You were never meant to suffer in silence, live with triggers, or carry pain that was never yours to begin with.

And I’m here to walk beside you as you let it go, gently, safely, and completely.

With all my love always,

Virginie