Introduction to Brainspotting & EMDR Therapy
What gets us to the point of needing trauma therapy with Brainspotting or EMDR, anyways?
When we go through stressful or traumatic events, our brains don’t always have the resources to process them fully in the moment.
Our brains run on blood, glucose, and oxygen but that’s not the only resource they need. So often it’s support that we’re missing out on in the worst moments; it’s that we felt alone or without the full help we needed when the dire moment struck.
And we have to pause here to honor: for complex trauma, systemic injustice, and complicated grief . . . now multiply that moment that lacked what we needed times the rhythm of our entire days, times the infinity of slow motion labored breath after labored breath as the world spins and we somehow recite the words and intonation expected of us.
Zooming back in to the one-time event: when that moment of stress is bigger than the resources available to us in that exact moment, these tough memories can be tagged and filed by our brains as a threat. Which is pretty smart. When X happens, prepare for Y to follow. They’re associated now, so our brains tag both X and Y as a threat, and update our brains’ safety software with this new threat data (or reinforcing evidence of something we already viewed as a threat).
Our brains then use that file update to scan our surroundings and our bodies for any danger that looks like even a shadow of what it’s holding in the danger-file. It’s not much different than a computer running virus scan software on everything that comes through.
This is a super helpful mechanism when it helps us see the shadow of what could be a bear on a path and helps us stay alert in our surroundings, ready to act.
This predictive feature can also help us survive emotionally when we’re kids needing to read the emotional “weather” in the room so we can blend in with the scenery to avoid getting yelled at (even worse this time) by reactive grownups.
But when we’re all grown up and trying to be present and vulnerable in intimate partnerships or innovative at work . . . what once kept us safe now gets in our way.
Our bodies may not even know that old memory is over once we’re clear of danger, because the memory got filed as a threat instead of just a regular memory. And so we may read genuine curiosity as critique, or closeness as being smothered, or fear if we say no we’ll get punished, etc., etc.
Caution: memory inside
Not Just in Your Head
We don’t just emotionally carry the burden, unable to “move on” from the moment. We often feel it physically too. For example, you might feel triggered by a certain noise or a smell, and it brings you right back to that traumatic memory.
The part of your brain that processes these events is timeless, and it has no idea that you are not back in time in the moment it happened right now. Your stomach may drop or your jaw may clench. Or you may have a sense of dread or shame wash over you. That’s heavy stuff, but there’s hope!
Brainspotting and EMDR: A Kinder Way of Remembering during Therapy
Brainspotting and EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, offer a therapeutic approach to reprocessing these traumatic memories in a gentler way. They can help you be in the presence of the same triggers without your stomach tying in knots or your face turning red. Because your body doesn’t think you’re back in time when the bad thing happened anymore, and it doesn’t feel the weight of shame or whatever emotion is linked up (or associated with) that moment.
You may notice we’re talking about Brainspotting and EMDR together. That’s because Brainspotting is built on EMDR. It uses EMDR, but it adds an extra element that helps to target what you’re working on a little more specifically, but can help process it both more deeply and gently.
Here at The Hope Preserve, we are big fans of Brainspotting because of both how targeted you can get on the center of what your brain experiences as the problem, but also how general you can be. In Brainspotting we really trust that your brain knows exactly what the problem is, how it got there, and how to feel better from it. The brain is part of the body, so we follow the body (and/or emotions), and you don’t have to figure anything out. We just follow.
A lot of folks don’t have a specific memory they’re aware of that they can go back to to try to feel better, and Brainspotting is perfect for that, too. You seriously don’t have to figure anything out. With your Brainspotting therapist’s support in session, all you do is focus on a sensation, emotion, or scenario, and your brain will follow that general feeling to precisely where it knows it needs to go. This lets you process something you may not have been aware was even connected to how you’re feeling.
When you fully process what happened, and your nervous system truly believes that the moment is over, it diminishes your triggers’ power to evoke ongoing trauma responses. It’s like the venom has been removed from the wound and it doesn’t feel like a fresh injury every time someone bumps into it anymore.
Part of what allows this reprocessing to happen is called “bilateral stimulation.” Bilateral stimulation is a tool used in Brainspotting and EMDR to help the safety mechanisms of the brain relax enough to think about the traumatic moment without your body’s fire alarm going off. More on that below.
That fire alarm knocks your logical brain offline so your fight/flight instincts can take over and get you the heck out of Dodge. The alarm is ever so helpful when we need a burst of energy to run from a bear, but when we’re in a safe place trying to heal, it keeps us in a loop of re-living the bad moment, and that just doesn’t sound healing or even kind.
We think therapy of all things should be kind, so that’s why do everything we can to help you process trauma in the gentlest ways possible (and most efficient, to boot, which also sounds like a kind honoring of your vulnerable efforts).
Bilateral stimulation, a fancy name for a simple, supportive Brainspotting & EMDR therapy tool
So enter bilateral stimulation to help our brains relax and remember that we’re in a cozy therapy room with a trusted ally in this moment right here. Bilateral stimulation just means moving side to side. Like swaying in a hammock or walking in the woods.
You know how sometimes the best conversations come when you’re on a walk with someone you care about? There can be a lot of things that help that happen, like being in nature and being side by side rather than face to face, and moving your body, and who knows what else. It’s just great.
But another thing that happens is the back and forth movements you’re making. Left, right, left, right. A soothing rhythm that engages both sides of your brain and helps bring a sense of balance.
What Bilateral Stimulation Looks Like in Brainspotting & EMDR Therapy Sessions
We can mimic that left, right, left, right bilateral stimulation in therapy sessions with a few different tools:
Eye movements: the classic that EMDR was built on. The therapist moves their hand steadily back and forth, inviting you to follow their fingers with your eyes while your head stays still.
Tactile movement - we have what we call “EMDR tappers” (pictured below) that you hold in the palms of your hands. The tappers buzz left side, right side, left, right. It feels similar to your phone’s “vibrate” notification and can be adjusted in strength so that you can barely feel the pulsing or so that you feel the intensity all the way up your arms - every setting in between.
Sound movement - you can wear headphones and listen to relaxing music that pans slowly from the left channel to the right channel, left ear, right ear. Usually this ultra-gentle form is bilateral stimulation is what we use in Brainspotting.
Body movement - you can create bilateral stimulation without any extra tools:
Butterfly hug - you can cross your arms over your chest, allowing your hands to gently tap your shoulders alternating sides
Tap your legs - you can gently tap your legs, even under a table or subtly in a waiting room chair if you’re stressed
Tap your palms - you can alternate tapping your palms with the middle finger of the opposite hand, back and forth, and you might want to experiment with holding your wrist at different angles for your comfort.
Go for a walk - you may need to work it out with your therapist ahead of time (so they have appropriate shoes and outerwear that day), but walk and talk therapy is always an option! It has tons of benefits, the bilateral stimulation aspect being just one.
EMDR Tappers to Hold for Soothing Bilateral Stimulation
A Leg up in the Therapy Process
Bilateral stimulation is like an extra support for you while you’re talking about hard things. And! It’s passive support. It’s just there for you to receive while you face what you need to face in order to finally feel free. With the support of one of your biggest fans (your therapist) there with you, too, of course.
Bilateral stimulation sets the stage for Brainspotting and EMDR to happen, but there’s some more cool stuff that happens to help you get the most out of your processing time. (And by the way, there are some folks and some situations where bilateral stimulation isn’t helpful or doesn’t feel great, and it’s always your call as to whether we add the bilateral element or not. For example, it can help you feel present in your body, and it’s not safe for everyone to feel present in their body.)
What to Expect in a Brainspotting Session
We’re going to focus on Brainspotting instead of simple EMDR here, but this is how we work with both. Even for our therapists who use classic EMDR, we modify it a bit to be friendlier to complex trauma and burdened nervous systems.
Your Brainspotting therapist’s first goal is to hold space for safety in the room. This will include:
Getting to know what your goals are, what “better” will feel like for you
Ensuring there are comfort items in the room (weighted blanket, fidgets, pillows and blankets to make a couch nest, and anything that helps you feel cozy and supported)
Understanding your past experiences with therapy spaces
Understanding what feels safest for you to do or address in session
Teaching grounding skills for when emotions or memories are overwhelming
Overall: creating a space that is most comfortable for you
Brainspotting is very customized to you, and follows you every step of the way. It’s like walking on a forest path as night closes in. You may not see the whole path in front of you, but at every step you can see where to put your foot next. Your brain knows right where to go next based on the processing and changes it’s made in your Brainspotting process so far.
The Goal in Brainspotting and EMDR Reprocessing
The goal in reprocessing is to decrease the intensity of your current experience of your discomfort - whether that’s shame-ey beliefs about yourself, fears, or of a past memory. The process helps unhook the memory or experience from the awful sensations, emotions, and shame-ey beliefs you may have internalized when it happened. So the memory can just be the memory of what happened, without all the extra burden of reliving it in your current relationships (or the grocery store, or with your boss, etc.).
So you can think of it without ruining the rest of your day.
After reprocessing, the memory may feel like it has less of an emotional charge. It’s not that you forget what happened, and you may even feel a little sadness or self-compassion that it happened, but it no longer defines you. It’s a memory, but just a memory. No longer a motor idling in the background of your nervous system burning you out and leaving you on edge.
Another thing that people seem to notice is that something is missing. They may just do something instead of thinking about doing something, or maybe walk away from a conversation saying, “Hey, wait, I should feel upset right now,” or moving forward where they felt stuck. They may not be able to say exactly what’s missing, but whatever it was was holding them back.
What to Expect after Brainspotting & EMDR Sessions
After each session, your body/brain may continue the processing without your conscious effort.
For many, this may be evident by:
Feeling pretty tired after the session
Having new insights
Having new (or weird) dreams
Interacting differently with others
Having fewer aches or pains
Your therapist will remind you to simply notice this and be gentle with yourself. You may even practice some of the grounding skills you learned in therapy if the emotions showing up feel overwhelming. If any sensation or any thought feels unsafe, we therapists always want you to let us.
What to Expect after completing a round of Brainspotting or EMDR Therapy
Depending on the complexity of the event or traumatic pattern, Brainspotting may take just a few of sessions, or it may take a few months or longer to sift through multiple layers - only your brain and body know, and your Brainspotting therapist will be following your pace.
Even as you continue to process, you may experience a whole range of responses and outcomes. Many folks experience their trauma symptoms as feeling less intense, and moving through their life and relationships with more ease, feeling less stuck and maybe feeling more present. For example, some folks have noticed fewer:
Intrusive memories or thoughts
Nightmares
Flashbacks
And general emotional distress connected with what you’ve been processing
Additionally, some people find that they have gained new insights and perspectives on their past experiences. This can contribute to an overall improvement in their mental day-to-day contentment, well-being, and quality of life.
It's important to note that the effects of Brainspotting and EMDR therapy vary from person to person - and even for one person it can vary from topic to topic or session to session. Some folks may need more sessions or ongoing support to fully address their trauma symptoms, especially if they’re in a situation where the trauma isn’t actually over or their environment is physically or emotionally unsafe.
However, many people find that Brainspotting and EMDR provides them with significant empowerment in overcoming their traumatic experiences and feel it’s a little easier to live inside their heads and move about their lives.
If you’d like support from us in particular with your Brainspotting and EMDR journey, please let us know and we’d be honored to work with you.
