Brainspotting
Brainspotting: “Where you look affects you feel.”
Trauma is an emotional response, through the nervous system, to a terrible single incident or ongoing incidents. The brain stores distressing moments in a loop. Trauma incidents get “logged” in loops as trauma memories when events are particularly difficult to cope with or are out of our control Even without consciously thinking about the loop, our bodies store these loops as part of a natural process to keep us safe from future danger. Certain memories get “stuck” in the amygdala, the emotions capsule, and hippocampus, the memory bank, regions of the brain. These experiences are stored through fragmented sensations and make it difficult to create a sequential “storyline.”During day-to-day life, the storage of these fragmented storylines of different events can be exhausting or even maddening.
Brainspotting has shown promise as an effective way of healing from past trauma. In brainspotting, a therapist uses your field of vision to help access these memories and subsequently facilitate your brain’s natural capability of neuroplasticity to rewrite a new pathway leading to release. While it is not a specific spot in the brain, it is a brain based tool by using relevant eye positions. The therapist and client collaborate to identify which relevant eye position is most useful for processing. The fixed eye position and body sensation are paired with the unresolved issue and enter into mindful processing.
While it is often associated with helping resolve trauma memories, there is a wide range of unwanted behaviors and actions that can be processed by accessing deep parts of the brain, such as:
Unmet emotional needs from your caregivers
Performance and sports related anxiety
Phobias
Core beliefs such as “I’m not good enough” or “I must please others to be worthy.”
If you would be interested in receiving brainspotting treatment in conjunction with your current therapy, please contact A.G. Estes for more information on scheduling an intake appointment.