The Healing Power of Brainspotting
Two year ago, I sat with my therapist talking about an aspect of a past relationship that I just couldn’t get over. I suspected that this concern was playing out in my present life and showing up in current relationships. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t just “move on” from it and I certainly didn’t know how to change the almost involuntary thoughts and reactions that came up around it. I felt really stuck.
My therapist noted that she had just learned a new technique called brainspotting and asked if I wanted to try it. She explained that it came out of the EMDR tradition, which we had already used to process some concerns. Always game to find new ways of healing, I agreed. What followed was one of the wildest and most helpful sessions I had experienced in counseling.
Within seconds of finding a brainspot, I started experiencing some involuntary body reactions; shaking, tearfulness, and muscle tightness. The immediacy of this emotional change took me off guard, but my therapist assured me this was natural. She explained that brainspotting often gets to some of the deepest and oldest parts of our brain; the ones responsible for everything our body does automatically. During this process, I noticed my brain whizzing around to different memories that all shared the same theme of my concern. My emotions would ebb and flow, like I was riding an emotional wave. Throughout the session, I noticed my activation level (the amount of emotional and physical discomfort I experienced) decreasing and, by the end, I noticed more calmness in my body.
In our next session, my therapist followed up on the concern. To my surprise, I hadn’t really thought about it at all during the last week and when I tried to access it now, it didn’t really bother me. It amazed me that with just one session, my brain now held this concern differently. It didn’t cause me the same emotional distress and I didn’t feel any chest tightness when I thought about it.
My own experience prompted me to seek out training in brainspotting. Throughout the course of training, I’ve had the opportunity to be the client multiple times. Some concerns are able to be cleared in one session, some need more, but I’m always amazed at how deep and helpful each session is. Whether it’s bringing down my physical reactions to a concern or helping my brain make new connections to other events, I always leave with a better understanding of myself. I’m pleased to be able to bring this skill to my clients in order to bring about greater understanding and healing.
WHAT IS BRAINSPOTTING?
Brainspotting is a treatment method that works by identifying, processing, and releasing brain/body sources of emotional/body pain, trauma, dissociation, and a variety of other challenging symptoms to bring about more healing and wellness. Brainspotting is able to access the deeper parts of our subcortical brain, along with the nervous symptom, to clear some of the emotional energy of experiences that keep us stuck. Whether it’s a traumatic past experience, painful negative emotions, or even physical pain or sensations caused by something psychological, brainspotting can help you overcome it.
HOW DOES BRAINSPOTTING WORK?
According to therapist and creator David Grand, the direction in which you look or gaze can affect the way you feel. To some extent brainspotting is a natural phenomenon most of us have encountered. Think about what happens when you try to remember an obscure fact or date, or when you’ve had a harder conversation in the past. Our eyes often drift to a specific location or “brainspot.”
During brainspotting, a trained therapist helps you position your eyes in ways that help you target the source of a painful emotion, memory, or thought. With the aid of a pointer, the therapists slowly guide your eyes across your field of vision to find appropriate “brainspots.” These brainspots allow you to be more focused on the here and now of the brain/body connection. Brainspotting can access some of the deeper parts of the brain that traditional talk therapy cannot get to.
WHAT IS A BRAINSPOTTING SESSION LIKE?
A brainspotting session is always collaborative. Once you’ve identified a thought, feeling, or behavior that you want to focus on, you’ll work together with your therapist to find a brainspot that creates some activation. The therapist will also be looking for reflexive cues that you may not even be aware of; this could be rapid blinking, swallowing, a tightening of the jaw, or change in breathing. Every client's experience is different.
Once the brainspot is located, you’ll be encouraged to notice what's happening in your mind and body. Some clients process this out loud and some are silent. Clients have reported quick links of other memories, experiencing body sensations, imagery, or changes in emotional state. Experiencing some mental or physical discomfort can be normal during this process as we need to “feel it to heal it.” The therapist stays attuned to your emotional state and will help guide you through this. Most clients report a lower activation level at the end of a session, but some need multiple sessions to “clear” a concern.
One thing that clients might notice is different with a brainspotting session is that the therapist is less likely to be directive or to point out any observed connections in what the client is reporting. In this way, the client’s brain is better able to make the necessary connections and insight with minimal interference. At the end of the processing, the therapist will leave time to debrief the session and discuss ways to support you between sessions.
WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM BRAINSPOTTING?
Brainspotting is for anyone that feels “stuck” on a concern; for those that “just can’t get over it.” Brainspotting can be used for almost any concern you would bring to counseling, from a traumatic event to concerns around finances. The following list are some examples of concerns that brainspotting can help with:
All forms of trauma or emotionally charged experiences
Anxiety
Anger management
Grief
Depression
Relationship concerns
Shame
Impulse control issues
Performance issues
Brainspotting can be a nice addition to traditional talk therapy or can stand on its own. If you are interested in seeing if Brainspotting could be helpful for you, please complete a contact form here.
To learn more about Brainspotting, check out some videos here.
To learn about Brainspotting Intensives go here.