Elena White Psychotherapy for Healing in Los Angeles, California

Brainspotting: it sounds like something out of a Sci-Fi movie, but in real life it is a fascinating and transformative therapeutic practice. I like to think of it as a lesser-known-but-picking-up-steam cousin to EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), another somatic therapeutic technique originally used to treat symptoms associated with trauma or symptoms stemming from traumatic experiences or memories. These practices, however, are no longer just associated with helping trauma symptoms: research is showing that brainspotting and other somatic practices can also help unlock blocks for clients struggling with creative practices, such as sports, acting, playing music, and other artistic aspirations.

What is a somatic therapeutic practice? All this means is that the treatment comes as a result of focusing on how the body expresses or experiences painful or traumatic experiences. In this case, specific attention is focused on the eyes, and particularly on eye movement. As the pioneer of brainspotting David Grand, PhD states, “where you look affects how you feel.” Another way to envision this is how your eyes rest on a particular spot or focus, effects on you feel.

Working with a brainspotting-trained therapist can be extremely beneficial for a client experiencing intrusive or traumatic thoughts or symptoms, or creative blocks in their work or personal life. Using the brainspotting techniques, a trained therapist will help the client locate their “brainspot” by helping to find particular eye positions based on the client’s own natural reflex and gaze. This eye position that the client finds with the help and guidance of the therapist can bypass the conscious, neocortical thinking in order to access deeper, subcortical or body-based parts of the brain.

What can this mean for the client? By uncovering mental or emotional blocks, memories, and or trauma symptoms, clients can discover their own natural resources and resilience.

Brainspotting can help treat:

• Creative or artistic blocks

• PTSD and complex PTSD

• Depression

• Substance use

• Anxiety and panic disorder

• Phobias

Interested in working with me using brainspotting, and how it may be able to help you?

Feel free to reach out for a consultation or more information.