Unlike EMDR, which typically involves bilateral eye movement (like following a therapist’s moving finger back and forth), brainspotting zeroes in on one “brainspot” that appears to correlate with unresolved emotional content. From there, you hold your gaze while tuning in to your physical sensations.
How does brainspotting work?
When you picture therapy, you might imagine lying on a couch, talking through your problems while a therapist nods and takes notes. But “brainspotting is typically slower-paced and allows more space for the body’s responses to guide the process,” Abrah Sprung, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist and founder of Parkview Counseling in Englewood, New Jersey, tells SELF.
You usually start with a brief check-in to let your therapist know what’s bothering you lately—grief, anxiety, or a specific traumatic event. For me, the focus was often on the memories behind my nightmares, insomnia, and flashbacks. Then, the brainspotting begins. Your therapist guides your eyes across your visual field using a pointer or their finger; mine used a digital pointer on-screen since our sessions were virtual. When I felt a shift in my body, like my heart racing or a sinking feeling in my stomach, I’d tell her to stop. She’d secure the pointer and then, I’d stare.
As you focus on the brainspot, physical sensations tied to your trauma begin to surface, says Dr. Kaylor. For me, that often meant a racing heart, tight muscles, nausea, and difficulty swallowing. My therapist would then prompt me to notice, name, feel, and sit with these sensations without trying to push them away.
Why? “Neurologically, brainspotting is thought to tap into the brain’s subcortical regions, the parts responsible for emotion, memory, and instinctual responses,” says Dr. Sprung. “It’s in these deeper areas that trauma often gets ‘stuck.’ Brainspotting provides a gentle way to access that stored material and begin to release it.”
Though research about brainspotting is still emerging, one study suggests that fixing your gaze may also engage parts of the brain called the superior colliculi, which help you process what you’re seeing, orient your attention, and coordinate eye and head movements. Brainspotting activates these brain structures in coordination, which may “reset” how your brain responds to a particular memory. This teaches your brain that the trauma is no longer happening so that, ideally, your body stops reacting as if it is.
Mindfulness likely plays a role here, too. Brainspotting requires you to hone in on the present moment and tune in to how you’re feeling. It’s essentially another way to practice mindfulness, which research shows can help reduce PTSD symptoms. Allowing yourself to feel these physical sensations and let them move through you (instead of avoiding them) is, quite literally, processing trauma in action. Eventually, the memory will still be there, but it ideally will no longer trigger the same overwhelming physical and emotional response.
Potential benefits of brainspotting
While research on brainspotting is still limited, many therapists and patients point out some powerful effects, especially for trauma, anxiety, and grief.
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