Shari B. Kaplan, LCSWIntegrative Mental Health

Why Mental Health Is More Than Talk Therapy

1 Sept 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:42

In this segment of her YouTube video, licensed clinical social worker Shari B. Kaplan argues that effective mental‑health work must engage both mind and body. She explains that emotions can become physically trapped—manifesting as sensations like a choking feeling in the throat—and that traditional talk therapy often overlooks this somatic dimension. Kaplan introduces the concept of somatic work, describing a three‑step process: (1) helping clients identify where an emotion is held in the body, (2) guiding them to release that stored energy, and (3) facilitating repair or integration of the experience. Her tone is conversational and persuasive, emphasizing a holistic, body‑oriented approach to mental health.

Chapters

I never believed that mental health, like you can't just sit on a couch. Like we got to get the body moving. We have to move the mind and the body together. Things do get trapped in our body. We used to call it emotions, right? I have this emotion. I don't know what it is. I don't know how to label it, but it's right here. I'm choking in my throat. And it's like, well, now we call it somatic work, but back in the day, it was just your emotions. And my thought was, How do I get people to identify it? How do we get it out of their body? How do we get them to release it? And how do we repair it?