Brainspotting Therapy
Find healing in your body, Brainspotting Therapist in the Bay Area
Find Healing with a Brainspotting Therapist
You're tired of talk therapy. You've been through the routine before and talked endlessly about your problems, but it never seems to lead anywhere. It feels like you have your Ph.D. in your own mental health. The analysis, the constant talking, the mental gymnastics—and yet you still don't feel okay.
In the therapy room, it all makes sense. But you want to feel better in the real world.
When you step into the real world, something changes. Your trauma lurks in the depths of your gut, waiting for the trigger. Something happens and everything changes. You freeze up, unable to communicate your needs. Anxiety takes over, and concentration becomes a distant dream. Your heart races, as if anticipating something disastrous. Despite trying to apply all the therapy skills to rationalize the situation, you respond in old ways that leave you feeling frustrated
You understand the issues in your head—family of origin, negative thoughts, relationship fears—but it feels like there's something stuck in your body, it isn’t about your mind anymore.
Perhaps it's time for a different approach to your mental health. You crave something that can soothe your body, not just bombard your brain with more information. A different solution—one that feels genuinely distinct—is what you're searching for.
Brainspotting is a different approach to therapy that works in the real world.
As a brainspotting therapist, I can offer something different. I provide Brainspotting with stressed, hurting adults who deal with pain by intellectualizing and disconnecting. No more vent talking, no more endless analysis, no more cognitive gymnastics to feel better. I offer deep healing so that my clients can feel safe in their bodies and can process their emotions in a deep way.
This unique therapy harnesses your body’s innate ability to heal and gives it the room to do so. By allowing your body to just heal uninterrupted, you will be able to experience the calmness and healing that transforms your life on a real level.
Unlike talk therapy, the point of brain-spotting is not to have cognitive understanding, and insight, or to vent it. Rather it is to facilitate a safe environment where your brain and body can naturally heal and process feelings. This allows for you to have a deeper healing than traditional talk therapy.
Get Transformative Change with Brainspotting
Brainspotting is a life-changing experience for my clients that leads to amazing outcomes. Experience life free from racing and endless anxiety, or freezing in your body.
You will be able to face life’s problems with calmness, and serenity, and have relationships where you can express yourself without fear and shame. To get the transformation you want from Brainspotting, contact me for a free consultation to learn more about how Brainspotting Therapy can help you.
So What is Brainspotting Therapy?
Brainspotting is a powerful, focused treatment method that identifies, processes, and releases core neurophysiological sources of emotional/body pain, trauma, dissociation, and a variety of other challenging symptoms.
As clients work with a Brainspotting therapist, they are guided to find specific eye positions, or "spots," that correlate with emotional discomfort. The process involves the therapist holding a pointer and moving it across the client's field of vision to find spots where the client's gaze feels stuck or heavy, indicating a connection to underlying emotional issues. Once a brainspot is identified, the therapist encourages the client to maintain focus on this spot while observing the internal experiences that emerge. This can include memories, emotions, and physical sensations, allowing for a deep processing and release of the issues tied to the brainspot.
Different Than Talk Therapy
Distinct from traditional talk therapy, Brainspotting operates on the premise that the brain's physical location of emotional and traumatic experiences can be pinpointed through the client's visual field, hence the term "Brainspotting." Unlike talk therapy, which primarily engages cognitive and verbal processing, Brainspotting allows clients to access and heal parts of the brain that are non-verbal and often unreachable by traditional therapy methods. It facilitates a deep, direct connection with the brain's innate ability to heal, making it a potent approach for those who have found limited relief in other forms of therapy.
Dual Attunement in Brainspotting Therapy
An integral component of Brainspotting is the principle of dual attunement. This concept emphasizes the therapist's role as providing a safe, supportive, and non-judgmental presence rather than offering insight or feedback. The therapist attunes to the client on two levels: the therapeutic relationship and the client's internal process.
This dual focus helps to create a secure environment where the client feels fully seen and supported, enhancing the healing process. The therapist's role as a calm, observant presence allows for a deeper exploration and processing of traumatic and emotional material, making Brainspotting a unique and effective approach to therapy.
FAQ About Brainspotting
How is Brainspotting Therapy Different than Talk Therapy?
Brainspotting therapy diverges significantly from traditional talk therapy through its focus on the body's role in mental health. Whereas talk therapy engages clients in verbal exploration of their thoughts and feelings, Brainspotting bypasses the cognitive brain to tap into the deeper, non-verbal processing centers. It utilizes the visual field and body sensations to locate and address the physical manifestations of emotional and psychological distress, facilitating a direct and profound healing process that might not be accessible through verbal communication alone.
Furthermore, Brainspotting operates on the premise that where you look affects how you feel. This method allows clients to access and heal from trauma and emotional pain at a neurophysiological level, making it particularly effective for those with deep-seated issues that talk therapy cannot reach.
Is Brainspotting Therapy the same as EMDR?
Brainspotting therapy and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) are both innovative psychotherapeutic methods designed for processing and healing trauma and emotional issues. While they share some similarities in their focus on non-verbal, neurobiological approaches to therapy, significant differences distinguish the two.
The primary difference lies in their techniques and theoretical underpinnings. EMDR therapy focuses on desensitizing distressing memories by using bilateral stimulation, typically through guided eye movements, to reduce the emotional impact of memories.
In contrast, Brainspotting locates points in the client's visual field that help access unprocessed trauma in the brain. By maintaining focus on these specific points, clients can tap into and process underlying emotional and physical trauma.
While EMDR is structured around phases including history taking, preparation, and processing with specific protocols, Brainspotting provides a more open-ended and intuitive approach, allowing the therapist and client to follow the brain’s lead to uncover and heal deeper layers of trauma.
