Brainspotting

"Where you look affects how you feel"

Brainspotting therapy is a type of alternative therapy that uses spots in a person’s visual field to help them process trauma. It accesses trauma trapped in the subcortical brain, the area of the brain responsible for motion, consciousness, emotions, and learning.

This type of therapy was discovered in 2003 by David Grand, PhD, as an advancement of his work in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. Grand had observed a client getting "stuck" in one spot. While staying in this one spot, Grand observed her going deeper than ever before and Brainspotting was born.

Brainspotting is a powerful, focused treatment method that works by identifying, processing and releasing core neurophysiological sources of emotional/body pain, trauma, dissociation and a variety of other challenging symptoms. Brainspotting is a simultaneous form of diagnosis and treatment, enhanced with Biolateral sound, which is deep, direct, and powerful yet focused and containing.

Brainspotting locates points in the client’s visual field that help to access unprocessed trauma in the subcortical brain. Over 13,000 therapists have been trained in BSP (52 internationally), in the United States, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and Africa. Dr. Grand discovered that "Where you look affects how you feel." It is the brain activity, especially in the subcortical brain that organizes itself around that eye position.

One of the purported benefits of Brainspotting therapy over EMDR is that one does not need to “relive” the trauma in order to facilitate its release from the body.

How Brainspotting Therapy Works

Brainspotting works on the theory that feelings from trauma can become stuck in the body, leading to both physical and mental ailments. It is believed that the brain’s memory of a particular trauma or incident is “reset” in the body and brain through Brainspotting.

Grand described this “stuckness” as “frozen maladaptive homeostasis.” Our bodies are generally meant to be in a state of homeostasis, attempting to maintain a stable environment, but this particular kind of homeostasis is not helpful. Brainspotting accesses this and attempts to integrate this interrupted processing of the trauma.

It is one of a few types of emerging therapies focusing on the brain-body connection, including Somatic Experiencing and EMDR. Traditional talk therapy is known as a “top-down” therapy. That is, traditional therapy tries to solve problems with the conscious mind.

These brain-body therapies are known as “bottom up” therapy, which aims to release the physical stress in the body, thereby leading to release the emotional stress in the body as well.

Brainspotting therapy works on the midbrain, which controls parts of the central nervous system that are responsible for processes such as vision, hearing, sleep and motor control. When trauma occurs, this part of the brain typically goes into freeze mode to conserve resources for the body to be in defense mode.

This is necessary if you're, say, fighting a tiger, but is less helpful for psychological trauma—but our bodies can't distinguish between the two.

Although Brainspotting therapy is a bit more fluid and doesn't have a set standard protocol, most sessions follow at least a general blueprint.

Here’s how you might expect a session to go.

What a Brainspotting Therapy Session May Look Like

Although there is a therapist there guiding you, much of this is self-directed. You will start with some relaxing breathing and possibly listening to bilateral sound (music designed to move from one ear to the other) in headphones.
Once you have settled into a more mindful state, you will identify a place in your body where you feel the most distress and rank it on a scale of 1 to 10.
With the therapist’s help, you will then find your “brain spot,” or, where your eyes naturally focus on when the physical discomfort is the strongest. You will be guided to focus on this point by a pointer rod or the therapist’s finger, and they will help you identify the spot where you are becoming “stuck” and would like to work on it.
The therapist may take either an “Outside Window” or “Inside Window” approach. In the “Outside Window” approach, the therapist observes the client’s gaze and recommends a point; in the “Inside Window” approach, the client is the one identifying the point to process.
From here, you and the therapist will hone in on the feelings coming up, as you stick with this one area of the body.
You will then take some time to process the whole experience of what came up and what it may mean.

At the end of the session, you will again rate your level of distress—typically it will be lower than it was when you started. Some people report feeling a sense of release either mentally or even physically, through a mild tingling sensation or mild shaking as though you have the chills.

Following the session, you may feel exhausted or more emotional than usual. Additionally, more difficult feelings may continue to surface. This is all part of the process, but if the feelings become too much to handle, reach out to your therapist or a crisis hotline if necessary.

Click here on these videos to learn more about the Brainspotting process.

What Brainspotting Therapy Can Help With

Though Brainspotting therapy is primarily focused on discovering and alleviating trauma, it can help many different types of issues, especially since trauma’s effects are so far-reaching.

Anxiety
Attachment issues
Substance use
Posttraumatic stress disorder
Chronic pain
Major depressive disorder

Benefits of Brainspotting Therapy

In one small study, participants experienced a reduction in PTSD, anxiety, and depression symptoms within a few sessions. Other benefits:

Reduction in pain
Memories become less painful
Negative thought patterns are reduced
Better sleep
Increased energy

To learn more about Brainspotting and important developments in research visit the official Brainspotting website