What is Brainspotting Therapy???
Brainspotting (BSP) was discovered by David Grand, Ph.D. in 2003. Since then, Brainspotting has developed into an in-depth therapeutic process that can be integrated with other healing modalities. Dr. Grand believes that “Brainspotting taps into the body’s natural self scanning and self healing abilities”. The power of BSP is that you don’t necessarily have to relive the traumatic event at the same level of intensity as the original trauma. Because of this, it is possible to resolve the trauma in a more contained manner. Trauma and stress can often overwhelm the nervous system. The goal of Brainspotting is to help you release stored trauma or difficult emotions from your body.
How Does Brainspotting Help with Trauma?
Brainspots are points in your visual field that are associated with specific emotions or physical experiences. They are located by finding an eye position where the emotion is most strongly felt. A brainspot can also be located from the calmest place in the body. To pinpoint a brain spot, the therapist notices an increase in reflexive eye or body movements, such as blinking, swallowing, yawning, head or body twitches. Because processing occurs mostly in the deeper systems of the brain, healing may happen with less talking than traditional, top-down therapies.
Brainspotting is accompanied by the use of bilateral sounds. Bilateral sounds can be music, tones or even nature sounds that move from ear to ear alternately in order to activate each hemisphere of the brain. These sounds help to calm the sympathetic nervous system (which is the fight or flight response), and engage the calmer parasympathetic nervous system.
Brainspotting is targeted mindfulness to help you identify internal sensations or emotions and connect it to a specific spot in the visual field that brings up that feeling or emotion.
Brainspotting helps us process difficult emotions and experiences stored in our long-term memory.
Brainspotting Helps:
PTSD
Anxiety and Panic Attacks
Grief and Loss
Performance Anxiety
Fears and Phobias
Depression
Stress
Childhood Sexual Abuse
Negative Self-Esteem
Chronic Pain
Benefits of Brainspotting
- You can see progress after just one session
- No need to talk through all the details of your trauma
- Quicker progress means less sessions
- During Brainspotting, multiple traumas can be worked on within that one session.
Brainspotting was the most effective mode of therapy used to help those involved in the Newtown-Sandy Hook school shooting.
“What’s in the brain is in the body and what’s in the body is in the brain” David Graham
The goal of Brainspotting is brain and body regulation. Moving you from dysregulation to regulation.
If you are curious about Brainspotting and how it can help you heal from trauma, sexual abuse, anxiety or depression, I’d be happy to provide you with more information on how I think it can help you move through the hard things you are experiencing.