Brainspotting: Unlocking Trauma & Emotional Stuckness for Deep Healing

Apr 21

Healing from trauma isn’t just about thinking differently—it’s about processing what the body holds. Often, the things that keep us stuck aren’t just in our conscious awareness; they’re buried in the deeper parts of our brain, influencing how we feel, react, and navigate the world.

This is where Brainspotting (BSP) comes in.

Developed in 2003 by Dr. David Grand, Brainspotting is a powerful therapy that helps people process unresolved trauma, emotionally charged memories, and areas of deep emotional stuckness (Corrigan & Grand, 2013). Unlike traditional talk therapy, BSP doesn’t require you to rehash painful memories if you don’t want to—instead, it works with eye positions and the body’s innate wisdom to release emotional blocks at a deep, subconscious level (Grand, 2013).

What Can Brainspotting Help With?

Brainspotting is incredibly versatile and can be used to process (D’Antoni et al., 2022):

Trauma (PTSD, childhood wounds, relationship betrayals)
Anxiety, panic, and chronic stress
Depression and grief
Feeling stuck in patterns you can’t break
Unprocessed emotions from past events
Performance anxiety and creative blocks
Chronic pain and physical symptoms linked to trauma

Some people feel a significant shift after just one session, while more complex or layered experiences may require multiple sessions to fully process.

How Does Brainspotting Work?

A Brainspotting session is not like traditional talk therapy. Instead of just discussing an issue, we access where it lives in your body and nervous system.

Here’s how a typical session unfolds:

1. Identifying the Focus

We start by choosing what you’d like to work on. This could be a specific memory, an emotion, or even a vague sense of feeling stuck. You don’t have to talk about the details unless you want to.

2. Assessing Activation & Body Sensations

You’ll rate how activated you feel on a Subjective Units of Disturbance Scale (SUDS) from 0 (no distress) to 10 (maximum distress) (Wolpe, 1972). Then, we notice where you feel it in your body—this could be tightness in your chest, a pit in your stomach, or tension in your shoulders.

3. Finding the Brainspot

Using a pointer or your own gaze, we explore different eye positions until we find a “brainspot”—the spot where your activation increases, shifts, or feels significant (Corrigan & Grand, 2013). This spot connects to the deep, unprocessed material held in your subcortical brain.

4. Holding the Space for Processing

This is where Brainspotting’s magic happens. Instead of forcing or analyzing, you stay with what’s coming up while your brain does the work. Memories may surface, emotions may move, or your body may shift in unexpected ways (Corrigan & Grand, 2013). Your brain knows how to heal when given the right conditions.

5. Integration & Completion

After the processing phase, we allow time for things to settle. Many clients feel lighter, clearer, and more in tune with themselves right away.

Case Study: Healing from Relationship Betrayal

A client came to therapy feeling stuck in a cycle of distrust and fear after a painful betrayal in a long-term relationship. They felt emotionally unsafe in new relationships, were constantly on high alert for red flags, and struggled with self-blame—wondering if they had missed warning signs or caused the betrayal.

🔹 In our first Brainspotting session, we focused on the moment they first discovered the betrayal.

🔹 They rated their distress at a 9 out of 10 and felt the heaviness in their chest.

🔹 We found a brainspot connected to that distress and held space for their emotions to move.

At first, they felt an intensification of emotions, but as we continued, their body started to relax, and their mind brought forward new insights—realizing that the betrayal wasn’t about their worth, but about the other person’s actions. By the end of the session, their distress dropped to a 4 out of 10, and they described feeling a deep exhale—like a weight had lifted.

In two more sessions, they reported feeling safer in their own intuition, less anxious about future relationships, and more at peace with their past.

Some people experience huge shifts in just one session, while others need a few sessions to fully process and integrate.

Brainspotting & Trauma-Informed Therapy

One of the most beautiful aspects of BSP is its trauma-informed approach. You don’t have to talk about what happened if you don’t want to (Grand, 2013). Unlike therapies that require verbal processing, BSP allows your brain and body to do the healing work at a deep level, without needing to relive the experience.

For many, this makes it an ideal approach for trauma that feels overwhelming, unspeakable, or hard to put into words.

Post-Session Integration: What to Expect

After a Brainspotting session, your brain continues processing in the background. Over the next few days, you may notice:

Feeling freer, lighter, and more emotionally open
A shift in perspective—things that felt stuck no longer hold the same grip
New insights and connections between past events—helping you make meaning out of your experiences
More access to emotions that were previously blocked
A sense of deep relaxation and nervous system regulation

Some clients notice subtle shifts, while others have profound breakthroughs. Either way, your brain is integrating and healing in its own time (Hildebrand et al., 2017).

Final Thoughts

Brainspotting is a powerful, brain & body-based therapy that helps people process trauma, move through emotional stuckness, and reconnect with themselves in a profound way. Whether you’re working through a deep wound, chronic anxiety, or a performance block, BSP allows healing to happen beyond words, at the deepest levels of the brain.

If you’re curious about Brainspotting and how it can support your healing journey, I invite you to reach out. Your brain already holds the wisdom to heal—you just need the right space to access it.

References

Corrigan, F. M., & Grand, D. (2013). Brainspotting: Recruiting the midbrain for accessing and healing sensorimotor memories of traumatic activation. Medical Hypotheses, 80(6), 759-766. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2013.03.005

D’Antoni, F., Matiz, A., Fabbro, F., & Crescentini, C. (2022). Psychotherapeutic techniques for distressing memories: A comparative study between EMDR, Brainspotting, and Body Scan Meditation. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(3), 1132. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031142

Grand, D. (2013). Brainspotting: The revolutionary new therapy for rapid and effective change. Sounds True.

Hildebrand, A., Grand, D., & Stemmler, M. (2017). Brainspotting: The efficacy of a new therapy approach for the treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in comparison to Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.6092/2282-1619/2017.5.1376

Wolpe, J. (1972). Practice of behavior therapy. Pergamon Press.