Brainspotting is a type of psychotherapy (2003) designed to help people access, process, and overcome trauma, negative emotions, and pain, including psychologically-induced physical pain. During Brainspotting, a therapist supports their client to locate an external eye position that enables the client to easily access the felt sense in their body which correlates to the activation in the body cres
ted when thinking about the issue they wish to resolve. If the client has difficulty identifying body sensations connecting to an issue they want to resolve, the Brainspotting therapist has been trained to find this on their client's behalf. A brainspot is an eye position that tends to activate a traumatic memory or painful emotion. Practitioners of the modality say that BSP allows clients to access emotions on a deeper level and to target the physical/somatic and emotional effects of trauma held in the body and subcortical brain. There is increasing evidence that trauma is “stored” in the body and can alter the way the brain works (van der Kolk, Levine, Ogden, Rothschild)
Trauma can, for example, interfere with emotion, memory and even physical health. Brainspotting therapists are trained to access both the physical and emotional aspects of negative emotions. There is some evidence that Brainspotting works primarily on the limbic and midbrain systems where trauma is held in encapsulated form (Scaer, R., Corrigan, F). The limbic system is a collection of brain structures; it plays a role in emotion, long-term memory, cognition, motivation, impulse control and several other psychological factors that can effect well-being. Is Brainspotting Effective? Brainspotting is similar to EMDR, eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing therapy (EMDR). Both therapies help clients reprocess negative events
EMDR is the older of the two therapies and has therefore been more intensively studied. However, therapists are increasingly practicing Brainspotting and reporting more positive results than are possible with EMDR.
Both EMDR and Brainspotting can be used for peak performance work and to expand qualities that the individual has but would like to have more contact with. Brainspotting has been reported to help with a variety of psychological problems. It is primarily used in trauma therapy and the treatment of PTSD, but also helps some people with recovering from injuries and health problems, developing motivation, overcoming attention problems, and moving past stress and other negative emotions. Some therapists argue that many everyday psychological problems, such as anger, procrastination, and difficulty with concentration can be caused by trauma, and so Brainspotting might be particularly effective with people whose psychological concerns are caused by trauma. Specialty applications of BSP have been developed to stop addiction relapse, desensitise fear of withdrawal syndromes, stop OCD, work with adoption & attachment repair, Perinatal mental health, pain syndromes and working with children and teens.
