Brainspotting
Brainspotting is a psychotherapy technique that attempts to help people process psychological trauma or other problems via eye movements, bilateral stimulation, and client therapist attunement.[1][2] Like EMDR, practitioners of this technique use a pointer to direct a client’s eye gaze. Brainspotting has been listed as one of the Trauma Power Therapies, and recommended by trauma experts Bessel Van der Kolk, M.D., Robert Scaer, M.D., Peter Levine, M.D., Gabore Mate, and Steven Porges, among others.
- ^ Brainspoting Trainings, LLC. "What is Brainspotting?". Brainspotting. Retrieved 25 May 2023.
- ^ Grand, David (2013). Grand, 2013: Brainspotting: the revolutionary new therapy for rapid and effective change. Boulder, CO: Sounds True. ISBN 978-1604078909.
History
[edit]Brainspotting was developed by David Grand, Ph.D., in 2003 after working with 9/11 survivors and other patients.[1] David Grand was previously trained in psychoanalysis in the 1980s and EMDR in 1993. He combined EMDR, psychoanalysis, and somatic experiencing into a modality he titled “Natural Flow EMDR,” which became the precursor for brainspotting.[1] The neuroscientist Robert C. Scaer, M.D., P.C., and his conceptualization of psychological trauma,[2] contributed to the development of Brainspotting.
Brainspotting is a modification of EMDR therapy, a copiously studied, and evidence-based trauma intervention that resolves traumatic memory, with its associated strong emotion and unwanted behavior, with eye movements that mimic the eye movements that occur during REM sleep.[1] David Grand, Ph.D., the founder of brainspotting, an expert EMDR therapist, noticed that while clients discussed their trauma, or while the client was moving their eyes during EMDR sessions, the eyes tended to stick and react when fixed in specific spots. While EMDR therapy instructs the client to sweep their eyes back and forth over the field of vision, Brainspotting moves the eyes to spots identified as specifically associated with the targeted emotion, behavior, or traumatic event. Focused on this spot, using bilateral stimulation, and the focused and compassionate attunement of the therapist, the distressing experience is integrated and resolved.
Technique
[edit]Brainspotting is based on the premise that “Where you look affects how you feel”.[2] Unlike EMDR therapy, which allows the eyes to move back and forth to resolve a clinical issue, the brainspotting clinician will facilitate the client to be focused on a specific external location. [3] Brainspotting is based on the theory that influencing the visual field will influence neurological and psychological processes.[3]
Brainspotting sessions involve focusing on a presenting problem, rating feelings of distress, focusing on bodily sensations, following guided eye gazes, and practicing focused mindfulness.[3] There are several variations of brainspotting that may include bilateral stimulation via audio recordings called “BioLateral”, wearing goggles that block vision in one eye, or allowing clients to guide therapists on how to direct their gaze.[3]
Effects and efficacy
[edit]Grand claims that it can also be used to treat anxiety, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and ADHD.[3] "Both EMDR and Brainspotting are empirically driven and validated, with 75% of recent experimental groups showing significant decreases in their PTSD scores after only three sessions using a hybridized model of the two (Van der Kolk, 2015; D’Antoni et al., 2022). Findings from recent meta-analyses support seven of 10 participants suffering from PTSD found brain-based interventions to be more effective and faster acting than trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy in conjunction with cyclical antidepressants (Bernardy & Friedman, 2015; Shrader & Ross, 2021)"[4]
Several studies support brainspotting as effective treatment for PTSD[5][6] [7]Subjects report experiencing lower levels of PTSD and depression symptoms after brainspotting sessions compared to before the session, and changes in function.[8] Another study compared, via within-subjects design, the effects of effects of a single 40-min session of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Brainspotting (BSP), Body Scan Meditation (BSM), and placebo reading condition in the processing of distressing memories reported by a non-clinical sample of adult participants (psychologists and medical doctors attending a four-year specialization in Systemic Psychotherapy at an Italian Institute of Family Therapy). The authors of the study wrote "As far as the specific experimental design employed in the current study is concerned, EMDR and BSP thus appeared to be comparable in terms of efficacy in reducing healthy participants’ subjective disturbance connected with distressing memories."[9]
See also
[edit]- Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing
- Treatments for PTSD
- List of topics characterized as pseudoscience
References
[edit]- ^ de Jongh (2024). "State of the Science: Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy". Journal of Traumatic Stress. 37 (2): 205–216. doi:10.1002/jts.23012. PMID 38282286.
- ^ Grand, David (2013). Brainspotting: the revolutionary new therapy for rapid and effective change. Boulder, CO: Sounds True. p. 3. ISBN 978-1604078909.
- ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference
Grand2013was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Search - International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and ..." www.allmultidisciplinaryjournal.com. doi:10.54660/anfo.2022.3.6.10. Retrieved 2024-08-26.
- ^ Foo, Mariana (December 26, 2022). "A Study of brainspotting therapy in PTSD using 18FDG brain PET scan to evaluate glucose metabolism changes". Konselor. 11 (4): 126–135 – via Creative Commons.
- ^ Palsimon, T.O. (2022). "The preliminary efficacy and clinical applicability of Brainspotting among Filipino women with severe posttraumatic stress disorder". Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy. 1: 54–64. doi:10.12740/APP/143015.
- ^ Gorra, Nicole (December 2022). "The genetic and somatic expressions of trauma: A review of pathology and treatment". International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Growth Evaluation. 3 (6): 290–297. doi:10.54660/anfo.2022.3.6.10.
- ^ Talbot, Jeanne; de la Salle, Sara; Jaworska, Natalia (2022). "A Paradigm Shift in Trauma Treatment: Converging Evidence for a Novel Adaptation of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)". The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. 68 (4): 283–285. doi:10.1177/07067437221142283. PMC 10037741. PMID 36437585.
- ^ D'Antoni, Fabio; Matiz, Alessio; Fabbro, Franco; Crescentini, Cristiano (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): 1142. doi:10.3390/ijerph19031142. PMC 8835026. PMID 35162166.