What is Brainspotting?
Most folks nowadays have heard of EMDR, but what is Brainspotting?
Brainspotting is a brain-based therapy treatment that uses your eye location to access your deep brain for healing. It was developed by David Grand, PhD, while he was doing an EMDR session with a client. He noticed her eyes moving while processing, so he intuitively held her gaze in that spot. From there, she was able to process previous traumas and make breakthroughs that she hadn’t been able to make during months of EMDR.
A trained Brainspotter will work with you to determine what you want to work on. They’ll have you bring up the issue, and notice where you experience it in your body. From there, they will use their pointer to guide your gaze to find your brainspot for the issue. Once the spot is identified, you’ll process on that spot.
During processing, you might experience a variety of things. It’s important for you to know that as a client, there is no wrong way to brainspot! Some people experience flashes of memories, while others feel waves of emotions. Some have many body-based sensations. And some even might not notice much during the session, but see changes afterward. All of these are totally normal! You may even experience different things during different sessions. It’s also completely fine if you don’t really have the words to express what is happening during the session.
One of the great things about Brainspotting as a form of therapy is that it can address traumas and experiences that can’t be addressed by traditional talk therapy. Some people have things that happened when they were infants or toddlers that they don’t have verbal memories of, but they experience reactions to similar triggers. Take a child who had significant medical procedures. While they may not fully remember the details of their time in the hospital, hooked up to scary monitors, and away from their parents, they may feel the full impact of that even in adulthood. We know significant experiences change the way our brains are wired, and just because you don’t remember doesn’t mean your brain doesn’t.
So this person may feel extreme anxiety about any doctor appointments, or maybe when they have to separate from a loved one. They can’t talk through the memories, because the memories in the ways we think of them aren’t there. This is where Brainspotting and other somatic techniques can come in. The therapist guides you in noticing how your body is reacting, and through the deeply focused processing, your brain is able to make connections and rewire those unhelpful connections.
Brainspotting can also help us feel things that we know are true. Many neurodivergent folks feel shame about themselves, usually after years and years of masking. Despite knowing that there is nothing wrong with them, it can be hard to truly feel that truth. Brainspotting can help make those connections to a healthier view of ourselves.
Brainspotting can also help with expansion, where you focus on increasing things you want rather than decreasing things you don’t. One of my favorite subjects to use expansion with is creativity. Someone may be facing creative blocks that just don’t make sense. By finding a brainspot associated with their greatest potential, they can increase their ability to create and find the motivation that may have been lost.
While Brainspotting can be used alone, it often is used in addition to talk therapy. Some folks prefer to go back and forth between brainspotting therapy sessions and traditional sessions, while others may want to have a brainspotting intensive every so often to dig deeply into those traumas and blocks. And just like some do with EMDR, you can also work on issues with a brainspotting therapist, while seeing someone else for more traditional sessions.
Want to learn more about if Brainspotting is right for you? Click here to set up a free consult- I’d love to talk more!
