Brainspotting
What is Brainspotting?
Brainspotting is a powerful treatment method that works by identifying, processing and releasing core neurophysiological sources of emotional/body pain, trauma, dissociation and a variety of other challenging symptoms. Brainspotting is a simultaneous form of diagnosis and treatment, enhanced with Bilateral sound, which is deep, direct, and powerful yet focused and containing.
Brainspotting provides a tool, within a clinical relationship, to neurobiologically locate, focus, process, and release experiences and symptoms that are typically out of reach of the conscious mind and its cognitive and language capacity. Brainspotting works with the deep brain and the body through its direct access to the autonomic and limbic systems within the body’s central nervous system. Brainspotting is accordingly a physiological tool/treatment which has profound psychological, emotional, and physical consequences.
How can Brainspotting help?
Brainspotting (BSP) makes use of the phenomenon that “where you look affects how you feel” by using relevant eye positions. This helps the therapist locate, focus, process, and release a wide range of emotionally and bodily-based conditions. BSP is also a brain-based tool to support the therapeutic relationship.
We believe BSP utilizes the ability of the brain and body to naturally scan and empower self-healing abilities. When a brainspot is stimulated, the deep brain appears to reflexively indicate to the therapist that the source of discomfort has been located. BSP is then utilized to find and strengthen our natural resources and resilience. It can be utilized with other modalities including play therapy and sandtray therapy.
FAQs
Brainspotting is effective for a wide variety of emotional and somatic conditions. Brainspotting is particularly effective with trauma-based situations, helping to identify and heal underlying trauma that contributes to anxiety, depression and other behavioral conditions. It can also be used with performance and creativity enhancement. Brainspotting gives the therapist access to both brain and body processes. Its goal is to bypass the conscious, neocortical thinking to access the deeper, subcortical emotional and body-based parts of the brain.
For those who have sought therapy before and did not find it helpful, BSP can be a different experience. Utilizing focus and precision of the eye position, the location of the issue with anxiety, trauma, and depression can be targeted and processed. This allows the brain to process from the bottom up and inside out, utilizing the brain’s natural healing ability. It can be a time efficient and effective modality for the many challenges encountered in today’s fast paced world.
Brainspotting with children can be very effective to process and target areas of the brain that hold the underlying issues that impact behaviors. Behaviors are the result of feelings that the child is not able to verbalize. Through the use of bio lateral music and play therapy children are able to target the underlying issue and process it using the brain’s self-healing power. Several of our play therapists have been specially trained to use Brainspotting with children and teens.
