No two people are the same.
No two people’s struggles are the same.
The beauty of brainspotting is its ability to be flexible and its client-centered nature. One session for one client may look slightly different than another with a separate client.
While a specific answer isn’t as clear-cut as other treatment techniques, there are some similarities and concepts that you can expect in a brainspotting session.
What is Brainspotting?
What if I were to tell you there is a kind of therapy that is shorter than other therapies and in most cases more effective. That your issues could be resolved in three 60 to 90 minute sessions. That you don’t have to talk or relive your trauma. Sound doable?
Brainspotting is an evolution of EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy). It also incorporates mindfulness, brain-based therapy, and body-based therapy. Under this approach, the goal is to process negative emotions and/or trauma experiences.
With brainspotting, various eye positioning aims to identify spots associated with those emotions or experiences. When those locations are discovered, mindfulness is used to experience and process the emotions stored there.
What is the Process?
This approach has no strict protocol, so other techniques may also be incorporated. Talk therapy can be a supplement, but it isn’t what the approach is based on.
Before You Start
The foundation for most therapy processes is establishing a good rapport with your therapist. For brainspotting to work, you need to have a sense of safety and trust in your therapist when discussing sensitive matters.
Guided imagery or relaxation techniques may be used prior to starting the actual brainspotting. Along with having that trust and safety, you want to feel at ease as much as possible. You’re about to travel down a potentially challenging path.
Starting the Process
When you’re ready to start, you will be asked to discuss a traumatic experience or some other upsetting memory. By talking through some of the issues, your therapist will be able to gain some understanding of where the focus area lies.
You’ll also be asked to pay attention and elaborate on any feelings your body is having. Brainspotting uses that mind-body connection, so your body is an important tool in this process.
In order to find the brain spot, you may need guidance. Your therapist will use a pointer and ask you to follow it with your eyes. As your eyes move, you should find a point when your emotions feel stronger.
Once you find that spot, you’ll be instructed to hold your gaze there, keeping your eyes open or closing them. You’ll then be guided to shift your focus inward to access that memory further. Processing through the negative emotions means accepting the bad, finding an openness to it, and allowing any and all of the emotions to run through you.
As you move along, you’ll be encouraged not to fight your feelings. Your therapist will help you process whatever thoughts and emotions are appearing and shift how you view the difficult memory. Once you reach the end of the cycle, any next steps or options will be discussed.
Other Things to Expect
As mentioned before, brainspotting is a very flexible method. Aside from the process itself, you may encounter music/sound therapy used to access the brain better. Eye isolation may also be used to access a certain hemisphere of the brain to alter the pace of the process. You may find various options for pointers to be used, or you may not need a pointer, depending on your specific journey.
Since this is not talk therapy, you can talk as much or as little as you’d like. Either way, processing can occur.
If you’ve been struggling with painful memories or have experienced trauma in the past, brainspotting may be an option for you. Contact us today for a free consultation to learn more.
Learn more about our brainspotting therapy. Serving Boulder, Longmont and Denver.
