What Is Brainspotting?

By: Patrice Flanagan-Morris, LCSW

Brainspotting is a body-based therapy that helps resolve past experiences so that they no longer inhibit you. Have you ever gotten into a fight with someone and said or did something you regretted? Do you struggle with self-care? Do you feel stuck or stagnant in life? This is where Brainspotting can come in, by resolving old stories in the lower parts of our brains that make us reactive or block us from taking care of ourselves we can engage in our lives to create more self-fulfillment and awareness.

Typical talk therapy works from a top-down perspective, meaning that you learn different skills to address the symptoms that brought you into therapy. The downfall of top-down is when we get emotional we lose access to the top parts of our brains, for some people faster than others, because our bottom brain is attempting to help us survive.

Brainspotting works from the bottom up, the way that our brains were formed in the womb. This means that we resolve and help re-wire lower parts of the brain so they no longer make us jump into our emotions as fast and become reactive. This also helps us resolve blocks that prevent us from taking care of ourselves or keep us stuck in life.

Brainspotting can help with:

• Anxiety & Depression

• Resolving Trauma

• Increasing fulfillment at work and home

• Creating a deeper connection to yourself

• Increasing creativity

• Increasing your capacity for self-care