Brainspotting Therapy: A Brain-Based Approach to Healing Trauma

What if your eye position could unlock access to unprocessed trauma stored deep in your brain? This is the premise behind Brainspotting, a relatively newer therapeutic approach that has gained significant attention in the trauma treatment world.

Brainspotting (BSP) offers a brain-based, body-oriented approach to processing traumatic experiences. For people who haven’t found relief through traditional talk therapy, Brainspotting provides another pathway to healing.

What Is Brainspotting?

Brainspotting is a therapeutic technique that uses specific eye positions to access and process trauma held in the subcortical brain—the parts of the brain below the thinking cortex that house emotions, body sensations, and survival instincts.

Developed by David Grand, PhD, in 2003, Brainspotting emerged from his work with EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). During an EMDR session, Grand noticed that a client’s eye movements would sometimes stall at particular positions—and significant processing would occur at these spots. This observation led to the development of Brainspotting as a distinct approach.

The core principle: “Where you look affects how you feel.” Different eye positions correspond to different neural networks in the brain. By finding the eye position connected to a specific issue and maintaining focus there, deep processing can occur.

How Brainspotting Works

The brain-body connection

Trauma isn’t stored only in our conscious memories—it’s held in the deeper, subcortical parts of the brain and in the body itself. These areas don’t respond to logical thinking or reasoning. You can know intellectually that you’re safe now, yet your body still responds as if danger is present.

Traditional talk therapy primarily engages the neocortex—the thinking brain. While valuable, talk therapy may not reach the parts of the brain where trauma is stored. Brainspotting aims to access those deeper areas directly.

Finding the brainspot

A “brainspot” is an eye position that correlates with the neural activation of a particular issue. When your eyes rest on this spot, it creates a direct pathway to the subcortical brain, allowing processing to occur.

The therapist helps identify brainspots through careful observation. Methods include:

Outside Window: The therapist watches for reflexive responses as the client’s eyes scan the visual field. When the eyes reach a brainspot, subtle responses occur—a eye wobble, blink, facial twitch, or shift in breathing. The therapist spots these cues from the “outside.”

Inside Window: The client reports internal experiences (body sensations, emotional shifts) while moving their gaze slowly across the visual field. When they notice the strongest activation, they’ve found the brainspot from the “inside.”

Gazespotting: Sometimes the brainspot is found by noticing where the client naturally looks when discussing their issue.

The processing phase

Once a brainspot is located, the client maintains their gaze on that position (often using a pointer held by the therapist as a focal point) while allowing whatever arises to arise—thoughts, emotions, body sensations, memories.

Unlike some therapies, Brainspotting doesn’t require talking through the trauma in detail. Processing can happen with minimal verbalization. The client simply stays focused on the brainspot and notices their internal experience as the brain does its natural healing work.

Processing typically involves waves of emotion, physical sensations, and sometimes spontaneous insights. The therapist provides attunement and support without directing the process.

Bilateral sound

Many Brainspotting sessions incorporate bilateral sound—audio that alternates between ears—through headphones. This seems to enhance processing, similar to how bilateral stimulation works in EMDR.

What Happens in a Brainspotting Session

Preparation

Sessions begin with discussion of what you want to work on. This might be a specific traumatic memory, a persistent emotional state, a phobia, a performance issue, or other concerns.

The therapist helps you connect with the issue and notice where you feel it in your body. Body awareness is central to Brainspotting—the physical sensations become the entry point for processing.

Finding the brainspot

Using one of the methods described above, the therapist helps locate the relevant brainspot. You might be asked to follow a pointer slowly across your field of vision while noticing internal changes, or the therapist might watch for your reflexive responses.

Focused processing

Once the brainspot is found, you maintain your gaze on that position. Bilateral sound may be playing through headphones. The therapist remains present and attuned but lets the process unfold naturally.

You simply notice what happens—emotions, body sensations, images, memories, thoughts. Processing is often nonlinear. You might feel sad, then angry, then have a childhood memory surface, then feel physical tension release.

The therapist periodically checks in with brief questions: “What are you noticing now?” This helps track the process without disrupting it.

Duration

Processing continues until there’s a natural settling. This might take anywhere from a few minutes to most of a session. Some issues resolve in a single session; others require multiple sessions.

Integration

Sessions typically end with time to integrate and ground. You might discuss what came up, though detailed verbal processing isn’t required. The focus is on how you’re feeling now and ensuring you’re stable before leaving.

What Brainspotting Can Help With

Trauma and PTSD

Brainspotting’s primary application is trauma processing. It can help with:
– Single-incident trauma (accidents, assaults, disasters)
– Complex/developmental trauma
– PTSD symptoms (flashbacks, hypervigilance, avoidance)
– Trauma-related anxiety and depression

Performance issues

Athletes, performers, and professionals use Brainspotting to address performance anxiety and blocks. By processing the fears and past experiences that interfere with performance, individuals often see improvement in their abilities.

Anxiety and panic

The deep processing of Brainspotting can address anxiety rooted in past experiences or held in the body.

Grief and loss

Complicated grief that isn’t resolving through traditional approaches may respond to Brainspotting.

Chronic pain

When pain has psychological components or is trauma-related, Brainspotting may help reduce symptoms.

Addictions and compulsive behaviors

Brainspotting can address the underlying emotional material driving addictive behaviors.

Other applications

Therapists use Brainspotting for:
– Depression
– Phobias
– Attachment issues
– Anger
– Creative blocks
– Medical trauma
– Birth trauma

The Evidence for Brainspotting

As a newer therapy, Brainspotting has less research than established treatments like CPT, PE, or EMDR. However, the evidence base is growing:

• Studies show reductions in PTSD symptoms, depression, and anxiety
• Research with survivors of mass trauma (train derailment) showed significant symptom reduction
• Studies with athletes demonstrate performance improvements
• Clinical reports consistently describe positive outcomes

More research is needed, and Brainspotting isn’t yet considered a first-line evidence-based treatment by some organizations. However, clinical experience and emerging research support its effectiveness.

Brainspotting vs. EMDR

Brainspotting emerged from EMDR, and the two share some features. However, they differ in important ways:

Aspect	EMDR	Brainspotting
Eye position	Eyes move back and forth	Eyes maintain fixed position
Structure	Highly structured protocol	More fluid and intuitive
Verbal processing	Includes checking in and cognitive work	Minimal talking during processing
Therapist role	More directive	More attuned, less directive
Body focus	Included but less central	Central to the approach

Neither approach is universally “better”—different people respond to different treatments. Some find EMDR’s structure helpful; others prefer Brainspotting’s flexibility. Both are legitimate options for trauma processing.

What to Expect: Common Experiences

During sessions

• Waves of emotion (sadness, anger, fear, grief)
• Physical sensations (tension, heat, tingling, release)
• Spontaneous memories or images
• Fatigue or feeling drained
• Sudden insights or shifts in perspective
• Deep relaxation or altered states
• Minimal verbal exchange

Between sessions

• Continued processing (dreams, emotions, memories surfacing)
• Fatigue
• Emotional sensitivity
• Gradual symptom reduction
• New perspectives on old issues

Processing can be intense

Brainspotting accesses deep material, and sessions can be emotionally intense. This is part of the healing process, but it’s important to have support and self-care strategies.

Is Brainspotting Right for You?

Brainspotting might be a good fit if:

• Traditional talk therapy hasn’t fully resolved your trauma symptoms
• You have difficulty articulating your experiences verbally
• You’re aware of holding tension or distress in your body
• You’re open to experiential, body-based approaches
• EMDR wasn’t a good fit, but you’re interested in similar approaches
• You want deep processing without extensive verbal recounting

Brainspotting might not be ideal if:

• You’re in active crisis (stabilization first)
• You prefer highly structured, protocol-driven approaches
• You’re uncomfortable with experiential or body-based work
• You have current psychosis or severe dissociation (require specialized treatment)

Finding a Brainspotting Therapist

If you’re interested in Brainspotting:

Verify training. Brainspotting requires specific training beyond general therapy education. Look for therapists who have completed Phase 1 training at minimum, with additional phases indicating more advanced training.

Check experience. Ask how long they’ve been using Brainspotting and with what populations.

Ensure fit. The therapeutic relationship matters in Brainspotting. The therapist’s attunement is central to the process.

Brainspotting.com maintains a directory of trained practitioners.

A Path to Deep Healing

Brainspotting offers access to parts of the brain and body that traditional talk therapy may not reach. For trauma survivors who haven’t found complete relief through other approaches, Brainspotting provides another pathway.

The approach respects the brain’s natural healing capacity. Rather than requiring you to talk through every detail of your trauma, Brainspotting trusts that once the stuck material is accessed, your brain knows how to process it.

Healing doesn’t always require words. Sometimes it requires access—access to the places where pain is stored, where the body holds what the mind has tried to forget. Brainspotting offers that access, and with it, the possibility of deep, lasting change.

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If you’re interested in exploring Brainspotting for trauma or other concerns, reach out to discuss whether this approach might be right for you. Our trained therapists can help determine the best treatment path for your unique situation.