Brainspotting

Brainspotting, which was developed by Dr. David Grand in 2003, is a neurobiological treatment method grounded in attunement and neuroscience which evolved out of EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy). A brainspot exists in one’s field of vision & corresponds to a felt sense of neural or physical activity surrounding a particular issue.

Brainspotting can be used in a variety of situations and is a flexible approach - often it is used to reduce the intensity of a past trauma or difficult experience, yet it can also be used to expand on a positive event or experience.

Brainspotting uses the brain’s natural ability to use visual information/gazing, which is roughly 80% of the brain’s information source to help it move into homeostasis and to reprocess the unprocessed and highly emotionally-charged emotions. Brainspotting is a gentle approach that allows the client to share as much, or as little, as one chooses about the event/experience being targeted in the treatment. This is very different than other approaches which require repetition of the difficult experience in order to desensitize the content over time. In Brainspotting, we trust that the brain knows how to heal and we just need to create the right environment and circumstances for it to do so. One analogy sometimes used is that the brain is similar to a filing cabinet for storing information and the unprocessed traumatic experience has been misfiled in the midbrain causing the current, often disruptive and difficult, emotional symptoms. Using specific Brainspotting approaches with attunement and paying attention to interoceptive/felt experiences in the body the client and the therapist help to ‘locate the file’ and hold the file open to move the incorrect file out of its current location and into the correct location.

For more information, you can go directly to the official Brainspotting website by clicking: brainspotting.com​ or watching David Grand talk about Brainspotting from the video "As a client, why choose Brainspotting?" on this page.