What is Brainspotting?
Brainspotting locates points in the client’s visual field that help to access unprocessed trauma in the subcortical brain. Brainspotting Therapy was discovered in 2003 by David Grand, Ph.D. Over 12,500 therapists have been trained in Brainspotting (50 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.
How Does Brainspotting Work?
Brainspotting therapy works by directly tapping into the brain’s autonomic and limbic systems, located within the central nervous system. Because of this, it can be considered a physiological treatment, providing physical benefits as well as psychological and emotional relief.
Brainspotting works as both a diagnostic tool and a treatment. It assesses a person’s core neurophysiological sources of emotional/body pain, trauma, dissociation, and other symptoms. Once it identifies the sources of these ailments, it simultaneously treats the symptoms. Part of the treatment may include playing Biolateral sound, which can enhance the beneficial effects of Brainspotting therapy through its powerful and focused healing properties.
In addition to being both a treatment and diagnostic tool, Brainspotting also functions as a neurobiological tool by identifying, processing, and loosening symptoms hidden within the unconscious mind. This promotes a healthy clinical relationship between Brainspotting and healing.
Why Does Brainspotting Work?
Brainspotting is beneficial and unique because it provides a necessary, safe environment for its clients. It is a method that allows for a unique relationship between the client and practitioner (therapist) during the Brainspotting therapy session. This usually helps the distressed or blocked client to feel that their pain is finally being understood and helped.
What is a “Brainspot?”
According to David Grand, Ph.D.,
A “Brainspot” is the eye position that is related to the energetic/emotional activation of a traumatic/emotionally charged issue within the brain, most likely in the amygdala, the hippocampus, or the orbitofrontal cortex of the limbic system. Located by eye position, paired with externally observed and internally experienced reflexive responses, a Brainspot is actually a physiological subsystem holding emotional experience in memory form.”
Brainspot therapy: Does BrainSpot Therapy really work? How do Brainspotting therapist locate brainspots?
Brainspotting therapy is usually done with both eyes but may also be done with one. A Brainspotting therapist identifies a Brainspot by waving a pen-shaped/pointer object in a specific pattern in front of the client's eyes, and when the pen-like object comes across a Brainspot, the deep brain reflexively signals to the therapist that a Brainspot has been found.
At times, this happens outside of the client's consciousness. These reflexive signals can include (all without the client being aware of them happening) an eye twitch, facial tic, brow furrow, pupil dilation/constriction, swallowing, yawning, coughing, foot movement, or body shifting. Among these signals, facial expressions are the strongest indicators of a Brainspot.
The identification of a reflexive response that indicates a Brainspot hints at the somatosensory experience of the trauma, emotional, or somatic problem. By finding these Brainspots, the therapist triggers these somatosensory experiences in the client. To access the Brainspot and the emotions that can follow, the therapist holds the client’s eye position while the client focuses on the experience of the symptom being accessed through Brainspotting.
The therapist and client work together to find the Brainspots. The patient participates in this by letting the therapist know, during the Brainspotting scan, when he or she feels any heightened intensity, either physically or emotionally.
““Brainspotting is based on the profound attunement of the therapist with the patient, finding a somatic cue and extinguishing it by down-regulating the amygdala. It isn’t just PNS (Parasympathetic Nervous System) activation that is facilitated, it is homeostasis.” ”
How Does Brainspotting Act as A Healing Agent Against Trauma?
The way that Brainspotting heals is by helping the client process the trauma that lies within them. When the therapist accesses a Brainspot, the client experiences the distress that is associated with it. The client then experiences the physical or emotional pain that presents itself, and the client can experience it in a comfortable setting in the presence of the therapist. Over time, accessing this trauma in a safe environment will help the brain break away from the associated trauma.
Within the field of psychology, professionals have come to realize that when someone experiences trauma, whether emotional or physical, it is held in the body. This trauma, potentially caused by a variety of events, such as a serious physical illness, acute or chronic pain, or life trauma in general, can manifest in a variety of ways, and one way that professionals can help target and locate that pain is through Brainspotting. Therapists use Brainspotting to target these areas of trauma stored in the body from previous traumatic experiences.
These traumatic experiences typically become stored in the body because the traumatized person has not had the means to properly deal with the trauma they experienced. Because the traumatic experiences have not been properly dealt with, they become a part of the person’s trauma reservoir, which can manifest in other physical and emotional symptoms.
The Relationship Between Physical and Emotional Trauma
Health care professionals understand that physical symptoms are present as a result of psychological or emotional trauma, and it can be very difficult to separate these two. Often, traumatic events, whether they were physical or emotional, lie dormant in the brain, in the individual’s unconscious, and later manifest themselves into very real physical or emotional symptoms.
How Can Brainspotting Help You?
Brainspotting can be an effective and efficient treatment tool for:
Physical and emotional trauma
Recovery from injury and accident trauma
Trauma resulting from medical interventions and treatment
Stress and trauma-related medical illness
Sports Performance and Creativity Enhancement
Fibromyalgia and other chronic pain conditions
Addictions (especially cravings)
ADD and ADHD
Perceptual problems
Stuttering
Environmental Illness and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Phobias
Asthma
Preparation and recovery from surgery
Trauma resulting from war and natural disasters
Anger and rage problems
Anxiety and panic
Management of major medical illness
Brainspotting therapy 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 functions as a neurobiological tool to support the clinical healing relationship. There is no replacement for a mature, nurturing therapeutic presence and the ability to engage another suffering human in a safe and trusting relationship where they feel heard, accepted, and understood.
“Where you look affects how you feel."
Brainspotting therapy makes use of this natural phenomenon through its use of relevant eye positions. This helps the Brainspotting therapist locate, focus, process, and release a wide range of emotionally and bodily-based conditions. Brainspotting is also a brain-based tool to support the therapy relationship. We believe that Brainspotting taps into and harnesses the body’s natural self-scanning, self-healing ability. When a Brainspot is stimulated, the deep brain appears to reflexively signal the therapist that the source of the problem has been found. Brainspotting can also be used to find and strengthen our natural resources and resilience. Brainspotting is designed as a therapeutic tool that can be integrated into many healing modalities. Brainspotting is even more powerful when used with the enhancement of BioLateral Sound CDs.
