Brainspotting
What Is Brainspotting?
Brainspotting is a method of treatment that allows direct access to parts of the brain that lie outside the reach of conscious awareness. It is a body-based approach to therapy that uses different eye positions to help you mindfully process painful thoughts, emotions, and experiences.
For instance, suppose you’ve always felt like you’re not good enough or no one will ever love you. Brainspotting can help you observe what happens to your body when these feelings come over you. Maybe you get anxious and keyed up. Perhaps you experience tightness in your chest or a pit in your stomach. Brainspotting focuses on how these sensations are linked to difficult emotions and experiences. Your therapist will help you find eye positions, or “brain spots” in your visual field, that allow you to mindfully process these emotions and experiences.
How Effective Is Brainspotting And Who Can It Help?
Brainspotting was founded by therapist and psychologist David Grand in 2003. Since then, it has become one of the pre-eminent approaches to trauma therapy. In my practice I use Brainspotting to treat people suffering from trauma, anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and relationship issues.
What makes Brainspotting so effective? Unlike standard talk therapy, which only engages the conscious mind, Brainspotting can access the deeper parts of the brain that store unresolved trauma and emotional pain. If all your life you’ve told yourself that “I feel like I’m not good enough, but I don’t know why,” Brainspotting can help you figure out where that feeling comes from and how it shows up in your body. This makes it more powerful than standard talk therapy.
Additionally, Brainspotting is very fast and efficient. We will generally know if you’re responsive to treatment within the first one or two sessions. If you are responsive, the gains can happen very quickly, thus reducing the need for long-term therapy.
How Does Brainspotting Work?
The first thing to know about Brainspotting is that it is client-led. Instead of being structured, it’s very free-flowing and improvisational. This is because it relies on the free association of your feelings—you don’t have to work hard at getting it right and you can’t do it wrong. The Brainspotting procedure happens while you are naturally and organically processing your experiences.
Before starting Brainspotting, we’ll generally begin with education regarding treatment followed by an assessment of your goals and presenting problems. Treatment with this modality can happen as early as the second session. Minimal preparation is required unless you request more time to focus on resourcing or you need more time because of significant emotional dysregulation.
When we begin the Brainspotting process, I’ll ask you a series of questions that activate different emotions and sensations. For example, if you tell me that you don’t feel good enough, I may ask you “Where does that feeling show up in your body? How long have you felt that way? What kinds of problems has it caused in your life?”
Asking these questions increases the activation of your nervous system. And while your nervous system is being activated, I’ll help you locate eye positions that either enhance that activation or allow you to feel calmer. By following where your eyes go, we can look more deeply into your feelings and work on processing them together.
Throughout Brainspotting treatment, I will stay in tune with your processing and only interject when you feel stuck. After all, you get to lead the way in therapy—I’m simply here as a guide and a resource.
How Can Brainspotting Benefit Your Life?
Because it goes underneath the surface of conscious awareness, Brainspotting can help you gain insights that weren’t accessible to you before. You can get in touch with yourself and your emotions on a deeper level. If you’ve always wondered why you feel anxious or depressed, Brainspotting can peel back the layers of mystery and show you where those feelings come from.
What’s more, Brainspotting has many practical benefits for your mental health. It can improve your ability to regulate your nervous system, allowing you to approach life from a calmer, more centered state of mind.
Let Me Help You Mindfully Process Your Pain And Experience Deeper Healing
I decided to pursue Brainspotting based on my experiences with EMDR, another body-based approach to therapy that works more closely with traumatic memories. Many of my EMDR colleagues were getting trained in Brainspotting and reporting fascinating results. It didn’t take long for me to see fascinating results myself. Since I started using Brainspotting, I’ve helped many clients reduce their stress activation and achieve deeper healing.
If you want to experience the power of Brainspotting in your life, I encourage you to use the contact form or call me at 949-682-5731. I look forward to working with you!
