Brainspotting & EMDR Therapy
Extend the therapeutic reach of EMDR with Brainspotting for a targeted and deeper way to access underlying layers of trauma and distress.
Get to the bottom of what’s been keeping you feeling so stuck.
Have you already tried talk therapy - and other things - but still haven’t seen the kind of change you’ve been looking for?
Maybe you’ve seen some change in the right direction, but you’re still in your head far too much. You still find yourself getting triggered and thrown, and you’d like that to finally change. Perhaps you’ve also read the self-help books, listened to the podcasts, and followed people that say things that really resonate with you on the socials. And yet, you’re still struggling.
You want to go deeper in your therapeutic process and get past the overwhelm and other barriers to you making the real and lasting changes you’ve been wishing for.
What is Brainspotting ?
Brainspotting therapy was originally founded by a practitioner of EMDR who discovered a more targeted way to access deep underlying layers of trauma and distress.
Dr. David Grand, the creator of Brainspotting, explains that “what’s in the body is in the brain and what’s in the brain is in the body,” as a foundational aspect of this therapy. Brainspotting taps into the mind-body connection, and asserts that to heal one we must heal the other. By working through the body by noticing physical sensations that accompany distressing thoughts and emotions, Brainspotting helps with the release of connected physical tension, discomfort, pain and even sleep disturbance. Brainspotting taps into the brain’s natural self-healing process in order to release where trauma, anxiety, self-esteem, or other emotional issues are stuck in our brains and bodies.
While traditional talk therapy engages the outer portion of the brain that is both highly evolved and language-based, it is important to keep in mind that many of our emotional experiences (trauma, anxiety, stress, etc.) are stored in the deeper, inner “mammalian” portion of the brain. This means that talk therapy often can only go so far and be only so effective in truly resolving emotional issues, particularly those involving trauma. Also different from many talk therapies, Brainspotting enables you to heal without having to tell or retell your story, which many find to be actually be re-traumatizing.
Brainspotting therapy specifically target the deep, inner portion of the brain, and in doing so, is able to bypass many of the ways we tend to try to intellectualize, minimize, or even invalidate our concerns. Because of this, with Brainspotting, relief and change feels more significant and profound.
Even if you’ve tried stand-alone EMDR before, integrating Brainspotting with EMDR can be helpful to address and resolve any emotional issues and in many cases emotionally-based physical pain that keeps you stuck in patterns you want to change. Many people report going deeper and enjoying greater benefits from Brainspotting compared to other modalities, including EMDR on its own.
How does Brainspotting work?
Have you ever noticed how sometimes when you think deeply about something, for example, when you’re trying to remember something or pause to collect your thoughts, that you may look off at some point in your visual field (such as down to the right, or up to the left) while you’re thinking?
This act of “staring off” is something that our brains tend do naturally sometimes when we’re trying to process information. Through the field of neuroscience, we now know that the tissues in our eyes are connected to brain tissue, and many of the muscles in our eyes are related to systems in our body that aid in regulating heart rate and our breath. Our eyes, brains, and bodies are deeply and intricately connected. Brainspotting makes use of the process of “staring off” as a way to tap into our brain’s natural processing and regulating mechanisms. By harnessing this process and allowing it to continue over longer, uninterrupted periods of time, the brain and body work together to engage an innate ability to heal emotionally.
With Brainspotting, I will guide you to engage and extend this natural process to allow you to use it for healing. I may incorporate Brainspotting by noticing where your eyes are naturally moving as you’re talking through something and ask you to stop and notice what comes up as you look off to a specific point. Or, we may find a specific spot together that is most associated with the distress, or alternatively with a sense of greater grounded-ness and calm to increase your sense of comfort in processing through difficult content.
With the benefit of having guided, more focused time and space to process and tap into this natural phenomenon, Brainspotting can lead to healing more deeply and quickly than in traditional talk therapy. This process can also be enhanced with a specific form of music that activates deep emotions and memories, while also increasing feelings of relaxation.
Significantly for many people, Brainspotting therapy can work even without talking through your thoughts, emotions, and memories.
How is Brainspotting different than EMDR and what would integrating them look like?
Brainspotting and EMDR therapies are similar in that both forms of treatment focus on sensory stimulation (like through the eyes), but EMDR utilizes back and forth movement for processing whereas Brainspotting uses fixed eye positions for processing. Brainspotting can overall be a less intense, more gentle experience than EMDR. Especially tender issues are great candidates for Brainspotting.
In addition, Brainspotting particularly targets difficulties that have come to be from many years of demand and expectation messages from others - being told how you “should” and “shouldn’t” be and what you “should” and “shouldn’t” do. When this is present in your history, integrating Brainspotting into your treatment can especially fine-tune our work together. We’ll work together to figure out when is best for us to toggle back and forth between the techniques, and whether you’ll need more or less of each.
How does online Brainspotting work?
Brainspotting is highly effective online or in-person.
Special modifications are used online. I recommend if possible using a laptop or desktop computer instead of your phone (although it isn’t necessary if it’s not a possibility for you). There are many options for administering it including those where you can engage in even if you are on the phone - and with or without video. What’s key is for your Brainspotting practitioner to have advanced training in the particulars of online Brainspotting administration.
We will try out several kinds of set ups to find the fixed eye position we’ll use for you. Some of these involve the use of props on your end, such as a spoon or stretchy headband for set ups where we process with only one eye instead of both. Additionally, headphones or ear buds may be helpful for listening to the music I will provide if you wish that can deepen your processing.
How do I decide if integrating Brainspotting & EMDR would be a good fit for me?
Integrating Brainspotting with EMDR could be an especially good fit for those who:
are aware you’ve had an upbringing or significant relationship where there was a pattern of messaging about the “should’s” and “shouldn’ts” of how to be or act.
wish to go deep and are in need of a gentle way to do it.
have had a personal, family, or generational history of oppression.
have been socialized to believe it’s wrong to openly and vulnerably discuss your needs or your mental health.
find it hard to talk about your feelings and what happened to you.
get “in your head” a lot.
tend to try to intellectualize or minimize issues away.