Brainspotting is a powerful focused 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” (David Grand, Ph.D.). A “Brainspot” is the eye position that is related to the energetic/emotional activation of a traumatic or emotionally charged issue within the brain. Brainspotting therapy gets to the root cause of trauma, emotional issues and addictions. Brainspotting is defined as an advanced brain-body therapy that focuses on identifying, processing, and releasing trauma, mental health imbalances and residual emotional stress. It is based on the premise that ‘where you look affects how you feel’ and finds that eye positions correlate with unconscious, emotional experiences. When you focus on an eye position related to an upsetting issue, you release the emotional and physical stress within the issue. Brainspotting reaches parts of the brain that are not generally accessed in traditional talk therapy and most other types of therapy.
Brainspotting therapy has roots in Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) and similarly supports the reprocessing of negative experiences and retrains emotional reactions. Both approaches include bilateral stimulation, compassionate attunement and brain-body processing.