What Is Brainspotting?

Brainspotting is an advanced and highly effective neuro-experiential brain-body based therapy that uses relevant fixed eye positions, somatic awareness, and therapeutic attunement to locate, process, integrate, and heal emotional blocks. 

In the decades since Brainspotting’s inception, research has shown this treatment modality to be particularly effective in treating trauma-related symptoms. In a study conducted by the Newton-Sandy Hook Community Foundation, Brainspotting was listed as the most effective intervention for reducing PTSD symptoms in adults of the families affected by this unimaginable tragedy. [1]

Yet, Brainspotting’s effectiveness extends beyond trauma. In fact, Brainspotting is currently internationally recognized to target the following areas:

• Anxiety, stress, and overwhelm

• Depression

• Grief

• Impulse control

• Agitation and emotional regulation

• Negative self-beliefs, shame, and low self-esteem

• Unhealthy repetitive patterns

• Painful experiences and memories

• Performance anxiety and creative blocks

• Focus and memory disruptions

• Chronic pain

The possibilities are endless! As an approach that offers access to unprocessed thoughts and feelings, Brainspotting has the capacity to heal unresolved emotional distress while simultaneously maximizing potential. 

The Development Of Brainspotting And Its Relationship With EMDR

Brainspotting is a creation born from trauma psychologist, Dr. David Grand, who coined the phrase “where you look affects how you feel.” 

Dr. Grand’s development of Brainspotting began as he was working with a professional athlete. He noticed a powerful eye reflex emerge when her eyes held a fixed position, as opposed to moving back and forth, which is common with Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). Through maintaining this eye position, she was able to access and process memories never before associated with her performance blocks. It was this discovery that led Dr. Grand to explore the use of fixed eye positions and what is now known as Brainspotting.

Both EMDR and Brainspotting provide the opportunity to utilize bilateral stimulation via sounds and music that support regulation and deepen integration through incorporating both the right to left hemisphere of the brain. This gentle activation supports a further calming effect for many. And while Brainspotting and EMDR both draw from the same neutralizing mechanisms in the brain that incorporate eye movements to access the subconscious mind and emotional states, Brainspotting uses a relevant fixed eye position as opposed to the common practice of rapid eye movements in EMDR (which can be challenging for some with motion sensitivity).

How Does Brainspotting Work?

When traumas and other stressors are left unprocessed in the brain, they stand a chance of becoming frozen in time, stuck in the originating past experience. This is how unintegrated information from a past event can lead to an experiential autopilot, responding to present day events as if the same injury were happening over and over again leaving you feeling stuck in a “Groundhog Day” experience. While we may understand where our emotions and responses come from cognitively, this does not equate to having the ability to shift them emotionally.

Given stressful and overwhelming experiences are stored at a sensory level in the subcortical brain, sensory reprocessing is essential in the healing process. As such, Brainspotting serves as a bridge to the brain-body connection allowing direct access to the brain’s innate healing mechanisms. 

When utilizing Brainspotting as a resource to expand your current emotional set point, with your therapist's assistance, you will find a relevant eye position associated with a topic you wish to heal or expand upon. This can be done with eyes open or closed and it can entail topics related to discomfort, pain, or trauma to the entirely opposite spectrum of tapping into realms of potential, possibilities. and expanded opportunities. 

Your brain knows no limits—it is merely functioning in the mode of building blueprints from historical data points, and Brainspotting grants us access to many outdated and stored emotions, beliefs and thoughts that no longer serve you. 

Brainspotting At Dawn Of Day

I became certified in Brainspotting after using EMDR in my own therapy. EMDR is an extremely powerful and top-notch intervention, though once I witnessed the ease of Brainspotting, I was blown away by its accessibility and effectiveness. I’ve been studying and practicing Brainspotting ever since and have seen firsthand its undeniable results. 

The methods I use at Dawn of Day are holistic, intuitive, and mindfulness-based approaches that can be accessed via telehealth online, depending on what feels most supportive in the moment. In addition to Brainspotting, I may incorporate visualization exercises, attachment and inner child healing, parts work, mindfulness based stress reduction techniques and talk therapies such as Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). 

A priority during our time together is fostering an open mind-body-spirit connection to support relief from the effects of any stress, pain, and/or traumas in your life while simultaneously cultivating insights, healing, and expansion.

How Brain-Based Approaches Like Brainspotting Compare With Conventional Talk Therapies

Whereas many therapeutic approaches address symptoms from a cognitive perspective, brain-based therapies like Brainspotting and EMDR address issues at the neurobiological level, often offering immediate relief of symptoms that might take years with conventional talk therapy. [2]

This is not to say that talk therapy is not valuable, useful, or essential however! Talk therapy is often used alongside brain-body, mindful, and somatic based therapies, though it’s important to distinguish that Brainspotting as a neuro-experiential model offers access to the root of ongoing disruptive patterns in a way that simply talking alone does not. 

Talk therapy is typically referred to as a “top-down” method that targets thoughts and behaviors, while Brainspotting is considered a “bottom-up,” approach addressing stored memories and automatic emotional responses at their core. Through the Brainspotting process, clients can engage with unconscious behaviors while rewiring their nervous systems (i.e., how they feel and relate to the world on a day-to-day basis).

Frequently Asked Questions About Brainspotting