What is Brainspotting
Brainspotting was developed in 2003 by Dr. David Grand. He was a respected EMDR practitioner whose specialty was working with elite athletes. He was using EMDR with an ice skater and noticed that every time he moved his finger past a certain eye position the skater’s eye wobbled. David practices from a place of curiosity so chose to stop and see what happened. The skater began to explore a previously undiscussed trauma and processed deeper and faster than she ever had before. A few days later she called David and told him she hadn’t missed a jump she had been struggling with since starting therapy. David realized he had stumbled on to something big and started to find a fixed eye position with every EMDR client and asked his colleagues to do the same. Everyone reported similar results of deep trauma processing. Thus began the work of bringing Brainspotting to a larger community.
So what is Brainspotting? It is a bottom up approach to therapy that relies on a few core beliefs. One, where you look affects how you feel. Think of something that brings you joy. As you think about it, notice if you feel that joy in your body. Maybe your heart feels warmer, maybe your legs feel solid, or maybe you feel a gentle vibration in your chest. Pay attention to that sensation in your body and slowly begin to look around the room. There is a good chance that you will find a spot where that sensation felt stronger. Where you looked affected how you felt. Brainspotting takes that knowledge and helps people to dive deep into their therapeutic work. Two, our brains know how to heal, we just need to access that healing. Our job as therapists is generally not to suggest solutions, but to help the client find their own path towards understanding and healing. Brainspotting recognizes that if we give our brains space to heal, we will discover that we are able to release the hurt and pain that is lingering. Our clients can heal, they just need our guidance and space to feel safe enough to do that healing. Finally, three, dual attunement. Brainspotting relies on the relationship between the client and the therapist AND the client and themselves. As a Brainspotting therapist, I have to stay in the eye of the comet. I don’t come in with preconceived notions of how the client will heal, I help guide them to a place of activation and then trust them to find the healing there.
Brainspotting has a multitude of frames (suggested set-ups for healing) that allow for processing at whatever speed is necessary. The basics are similar to freeways, surface streets, and back roads. All get you to your destination, some just faster than others. We can use a pointer to find an activation spot and find where it is strongest in the body (the freeways), or notice where a client is looking and guide them to stay on that gazespot (surface streets), or find a place where they are grounded, neutral, or calm and process a traumatic memory from a resourced space (the back roads). All lead to healing but let the client heal at the pace that feels right to them. Brainspotting can also incorporate other modalities, such as parts work or somatic experiencing, to allow for the deepest healing possible.
Brainspotting is effective in working with people with trauma, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, OCD, and enhancing performance to name just a few. If you would like to learn more or become trained in Brainspotting you can visit www.brainspotting.com.
