What is Brainspotting Therapy? How does Brainspotting work?
“Where you look can affect the way you feel”, Dr. David Grand, the developer of Brainspotting (BSP). Brainspotting is a body-based therapeutic process that is designed to help people access, process, and overcome trauma, negative emotions and pain, including psychologically induced physical pain.
What is Brainspotting Therapy?
How does Brainspotting work?
Have you ever felt yourself staring off into space or stuck looking at a specific spot when you are in deep thought? As if you are in a trance-like-state?
Here’s the thing, we all brainspot throughout our days naturally, we just aren’t aware that this is what we’re doing.
Have you ever had the experience of knowing something intellectually but not feeling it emotionally? For example, “I know I’m capable based on the evidence in my life of things I’ve done but there’s a part of me that does not feel capable.”
This could be a trauma response. When our core beliefs about ourselves are negative in nature, it could be a trauma response. Even if on the outside things look good, if how we feel about ourselves is incongruent with how we act/show up in the world, this might be a trauma response.
As a therapist, what I know is that we cannot think our way out of these negative core beliefs. They are stored in parts of our brain and nervous system that traditional talk therapy cannot access.
This is where somatic practices in psychotherapy comes in. Brainspotting locates points in your visual field that help to access unprocessed trauma in the subcortical part of your brain, helping to heal the root of the trauma. The position of your eyes and where your gaze is directed, can actually unlock deeper insights that have not yet been recognized when thinking from your prefrontal cortex.
While talk therapy can help and feel good in a way of being seen and heard in our stories, it does not touch on the root of our traumas and how they are stored in our mind and bodies. The amygdala stores the visual images of trauma as sensory fragments, which means the trauma memory is not stored like a story, rather by how our five senses were experiencing the trauma at the time it was occurring. The memories are stored through fragments of visual images, smells, sounds, tastes, or touch.
Traditional talk-therapy keeps us in the pre-frontal cortex, which it’s function is cognitive control, thereby influencing attention, impulse inhibition, prospective memory, and cognitive flexibility. Important stuff in how we function in the present and future; however, if we don’t heal the roots of our negative core beliefs, we will continue to be subconsciously driven by them, which can show up as “self-sabotaging” behaviors and negative core beliefs about ourself.
What happens in a Brainspotting session?
During a Brainspotting session, you can expect to collaborate with your therapist while engaging in the set up prior to the emotional process actually starting. Sessions are typically done in 50-90 minutes, depending on the client’s needs and therapist’s assessment of the process. You and your therapist will determine the best time frame for you prior to your session starting.
The set up in Brainspotting sometimes includes using bilateral music; however, bilateral music is not necessary for the processing to be successful. The set up will often include the client focusing on what they want to work on as well as the details of their suffering or a negative belief that is causing suffering. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, even just thinking about it can be sufficient in this part of the set up. That’s the beauty of Brainspotting; you don’t have to talk about the trauma if you do not want to and you can still heal.
After identifying the focus of the session, the therapist will invite you to observe activation in your body and then they will ask you to observe where you are looking and notice if the body activation increases, decreases, shifts, or dulls - this might be done using a pointer to find a spot or having you look around the space and finding a spot, which we call “gazespotting.” The Brainspotting set-up is pretty flexible so your therapist may be more or less directive depending on their style and the needs of the client. The dual attunement and flexibility in the process is the most therapeutic aspect of the practice.
There’s no right or wrong way to feel during a session. You might feel waves of body sensations, minimal body sensations or even no body sensations. You might find yourself wanting to talk and share your observations or you might find yourself completely silent. You might notice a train of thoughts or random memories coming up. You can’t do Brainspotting wrong - your process is unique to you and meets you were you are at.
What to expect after a Brainspotting session
How do you feel after Brainspotting?
Everyone is different. How one feels following a session could depend on the nature and fragility of the issue that they are processing. There is no right or wrong way to feel following a session. After the session many people report feeling fatigue and a desire to nap. And, some people feel no difference at all directly after. No matter how you feel, I do encourage that if you can, try to allow yourself to rest or at least be able to take it easy the few hours following the session.
Some people report an increase in anxiety, heaviness and at times more vivid dreams a few days after the session; this is normal and is often your brain and nervous system still processing from the session. Processing can continue to occur for several days and even a few weeks after a Brainspotting session. Sometimes we feel worse before we feel better when it comes to deep processing and healing. Make sure you talk about any questions or concerns you have with your therapist - they are there to help make your process feel as safe as possible.
After several weeks, months and years, many continue to report a decrease in activation around the issue that they focused on in Brainspotting sessions. In addition, many have reported long-term shifts in perception on the issue, change in mindset as well as feeling more settled and grounded in themselves months and years after a Brainspotting session.
Brainspotting vs. EMDR?
Is Brainspotting better than EMDR?
Both modalities are somatic-based (mind-body based) therapy and both are shown to be effective with the treatment of trauma. Therapy is not a one-size-fits all and everyone’s needs and preferences are different, so it’s impossible to answer the question whether one is better than the other. This preference is completely up to the individual and their needs as well as the quality of the therapeutic process.
The key difference is that EMDR utilizes eye movements as a form of bilateral stimulation, while Brainspotting focuses the eye on a fixed gaze position.
Another difference is that EMDR tends to follow a structured protocol in the treatment process using steps and stages, whereas Brainspotting is an initial set up that then allows for flexibility in the flow of the session.
What I’ve heard from many of my clients who have had both EMDR and Brainspotting threapy is that they found Brainspotting to feel more “gentle” than EMDR. But again, that’s anecdotal evidence and not based on facts.
How effective is Brainspotting?
Does Brainspotting Therapy work?
Brainspotting has been shown to be an effective form of trauma therapy. Brainspotting was found to be the most effective mode of therapy used in Sandy Hook for the survivors of the 12/14 school shooting. Many client’s report positive results from Brainspotting that includes feeling more integrated, mind-body alignment, less activated in their bodies and an overall sense of mental and emotional stability.
I encourage you to check out this video to learn more about Brainspotting and how it works in this interview with the developer, Dr. David Grand.
Who can benefit from Brainspotting?
Brainspotting really does benefit most mental health concerns and is especially is beneficial to those who have experienced physical or emotional trauma(s). Brainspotting has also been shown to be an effective treatment option for those experiencing:
All forms of trauma (PTSD and C-PTSD)
Anxiety
Attention issues (ADHD)
Anger issues
Grief
OCD
Phobias
Negative core beliefs
Substance abuse and addiction
Chronic fatigue and chronic pain
Impulse control issues
Performance anxiety
Sports performance issues
How can I get help and find a therapist that uses Brainspotting?
If you’ve tried and felt frustrated with traditional talk therapy, or if you’re finding yourself getting triggered often, or experiencing physical symptoms with no medical reasons, Brainspotting Therapy might be right for you.
The good news is that you can still do Brainspotting via video, phone sessions or in-person. So, don’t let telehealth options discourage you in getting help today.
If you’re in California, let’s see if you and I might be a good fit. You can connect with me here. You can also check out the national Brainspotting website here to find a professional in your area.
*Edited on February 2023 by Robyn Gray, LMFT
