What is Brainspotting (BSP)?

Brainspotting is a new, cutting-edge therapy that helps people access, process, and move past trauma, negative emotions, and pain. BSP works by focusing on the parts of the brain where memory and emotion are stored. Brainspotting helps process traumas, negative cognitions, difficult emotions, and upsetting events by focusing your visual field on a spot that stimulates processing.

According to therapist and creator David Grand, the location in which people look can affect the way they feel. Dr. Grand discovered that we each have eye positions that activate a traumatic memory or painful emotion, which is called a brain spot. During BSP, therapists help clients find the places in their vision where there are brain spots, which are then resolved by holding one’s gaze at that spot while paying attention to sensations in their body.

Brainspotting is a therapy approach that accesses memories, emotions, and information held in deeper parts of the brain and body. In Brainspotting, we engage the body, sensory systems, and visual field to identify, process, and release:

• Emotionally charged issues, triggers, or dysregulation

• Stress and related symptoms of anxiety or depression

• Somatic pain or injuries

• Trauma

• Grief

Brainspotting also applies this same focused mindfulness to:

• Expand creativity

• Explore spirituality, purpose, and connection

• Optimize performance

• Generate confidence and thrive personally and professionally

Why Choose Brainspotting?

Brainspotting can often uncover issues faster than other talk therapy interventions. With the long-term patterns and physical effects of trauma and other mental health issues, BSP can help begin the process of healing both the mind and the body at a faster-paced trajectory.

Part of the reason BSP is so effective is that all the work comes from the individual. The therapist in this setting serves as a guide to keep the patient focused. Brainspotting works by accessing everyone’s built-in instinct to relieve discomfort and heal.

Benefits of Brainspotting and Its Connection To Mental Health

Brain spotting is a relatively new therapy compared to traditional talk therapy or cognitive behavior therapy (CBT).

Brainspotting can help treat a variety of conditions. Because brainspotting is individualized, it is flexible and can allow for deeper resolutions and a longer lasting impact than traditional therapies. Also, brainspotting does not need to be tied to a specific memory, for the process to work.

• BSP therapy can help:

• Reduce anxieity

• Work through trauma

• Help with ADHD focus issues

• Relieve phobias

• Reduce anger issues

• Control impulses

• Enhance sports performance

What To Expect During a Brainspotting Session

With BSP the therapist personalizes the session according to your needs to give you the best experience and long lasting results. There are standard parts to the BSP process, but part of the process is flexible.

The patient and therapist will decide on a situation to concentrate on. To prepare, the therapist may ask you how you are feeling and if you notice any tension in your body when you think about the situation. Doing this helps the you get ready to find the brain spot.

The therapist then moves a pointer across your field of vision. You follow the pointer with your eyes. In order to find the brain spot, the therapist can either ask you, when you feel the most tension as you are watching the pointer, or the therapist can watch your face to find twitches or involuntary facial movements.

When the brain spot is found, you then focus on that spot for an extended period of time. The therapist may also add BiLateral sounds. You put on headphones and a sound bounces from right ear to left ear.

The addition of sound works with the pointer helps trigger an emotional response. When concentrating on a focus point the you can have your eyes open or closed as long as the eyes remain in the same position.

Mind-Body Connections

Brainspotting uses eye movements, talk therapy, sounds, pointers, and best of all, client flexibility. The tools used in BSP help with focus, but it is up to the client to direct what tools help and what tools are distractions. The client is the one who controls the therapeutic intervention and how the pace or degree of the method is utilized based on their comfort level. 

There are many advantages to using BSP over other methods of therapeutic intervention. Many clients enter therapy after feeling like there are areas in their life where they just feel stuck. Often, clients are unaware of the source of their “stuck” feelings. 

The brain is designed for survival and with survival, instincts kick in that can cause stuck feelings in reaction to adapt and ensure survivability. As many people understand, life should not be about simply surviving. Therapy and therapeutic interventions like brainspotting can help transition from realms of surviving to thrive.

In addition to being both a treatment and diagnostic tool, Brainspotting also can work as a tool that can connect psychological issues with physical symptoms or somatic symptoms. Identifying somatic symptoms with BSP works as it identifies, processes, and loosens up the symptoms that are hidden away in the unconscious part of the brain. Being an effective intervention in somatic symptoms promotes a healthy relationship between therapeutic interventions and whole-body healing.

Brainspotting is becoming a major source of trauma treatment as more knowledge of the brain-body connection is found. While still incorporating talk therapy, brainspotting can work as a more overarching intervention method. 

Trauma is more than just a psychological ailment. Trauma has a way of manifesting in the body. Brainspotting is a tool that can help clients break down and begin to process specific traumas in their lives that they feel are sticking points. 

Brainspotting, as it relates to general interventions, allows clients to dive into their past with the guidance of a therapist through the mode of talk therapy to help find sticking points both in the mind and the brain. Brain spots which are really eye positions can activate past traumas or past emotional distress. By activating these traumas and working through them, clients can trigger their body’s natural healing responses. it can be considered a physiological treatment and provides physical benefits as well as psychological and emotional.

Client-Therapist Collaboration

The client may ask, “If this is a client-directed therapy intervention, can I do it myself?” The answer is that it is best to work with someone who has some training that is specific to the techniques used. The therapeutic relationship and collaborating with the therapist are important factors in the healing process. 

After identification of brain spots or sticking points that have led to issues in life, the process moves from identification to healing. Processing the difficult emotions that are brought up during the identification of brain spots can be intense at times. If there are significant issues or trauma related to stuck areas in the brain, having a trusted confidant present can be the most beneficial and effective way to work on addressing those emotions in a healthy way.

BSP is a therapy that helps you release trapped emotions so that you can move on with your life.  It differs from talk therapy because the patient works out difficult feelings through emotional responses by identifying a brain spot.  As a result, you experience longer lasting results and are able release the tension that is keeping you from living the life you deserve. 

Sheldon Reisman is trained in Brainspotting.