If Therapy Hasn’t Worked for You Before, Here’s How a Somatic Approach Like Brainspotting Might Help
I see so many people who have been in therapy before but haven’t felt things shift. They’ve talked about their problems, even their successes, up down and sideways. They’ve worked with wonderful therapists they loved, felt connected to, and supported by, but still felt absolutely stuck in their old beliefs and patterns. They can tell me all about themselves, their childhood dysfunction, and what makes them tick. They can identify triggers and map out the exact patterns they keep repeating. Many of them have done enough therapy or research to use high-level clinical jargon smoothly in conversation, but still, they feel stuck.
Cognitive Therapies May Not Actually Access our Stuff
Sometimes, insight isn’t enough. Talking about what we know can keep us firmly operating in the cerebral cortex, which houses parts of the brain that manage logic and reason. It allows us to try to make sense of our experiences, which is certainly not without value, but it often does little to move and process our stuck ‘stuff’. Our stuff - the memories, beliefs, and stored learning, is housed in a different part of the brain. This part of the brain, the subcortex, isn’t accessible through logic and reason. This is why cognitive-based therapy modalities are invaluable when we are ready to use and practice new skills, but they often don’t lead to lasting, impactful change. If the subcortical processing doesn’t happen, we can know what the tools are and sometimes even use them, but we may continue to repeat patterns and be unable to shift the deep-rooted core beliefs that limit us.
Going Further and Deeper with Subcortical Processing
Fortunately, we now have some well-documented ways access and facilitate faster, more effective processing in therapy. Subcortical processing with a trained provider allows the client to engage parts of the brain that are running in the background and have much to do with how difficult experiences became stored in the first place.
The great news is that brain structures like the amygdalae, basal ganglia, and the brainstem, which are responsible for automatic responses, and stored memories, are responsive to the right interventions. These interventions may include modalities like EMDR, Brainspotting, Internal Family Systems, Somatic Experiencing, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, and many newer-wave approaches.
The Difference Between Implicit Memory and Procedural Learning
Newer, non-cognitive therapy approaches tap into implicit memory, our unconscious knowledge acquired from birth. When we do this with a safe, responsive, finely attuned provider, we can shift our experience of implicit memory – the things our nervous system remembers. It was explained to me that memories are not like DVDs (remember those?) that we pop into the player – they are experiences we feel with our bodies, and they don’t stay unchanged every time we access them. We can re-learn how to feel safe, even with the experiences from the past that have drastically affected our ability to feel safe, calm, or connected to ourselves and others.
Particularly in trauma therapy, many people are considered that this means that they will need to revisit painful memories in specific, agonizing detail. Luckily, this is not the case at all. By engaging in guided, carefully managed somatic therapy, we can do the hard work without reliving difficult experiences.
What is Brainspotting?
Brainspotting is an evidence-supported therapy with a growing body of research. It is centered on the principle that where we look affects how we feel. Because the optic nerve of the eye is connected to the subcortex of the brain, we can access subcortical processing through the eye.
During a Brainspotting session, you and your therapist will work together to identify a topic that feels stuck or distressing. You will not need to go into detail regarding this topic, unless it feels helpful. They will then support you in identifying the body sensations that correspond to this topic. Next, they will help you find an eye position, called a gaze spot, and will invite you to practice what we sometimes call focused mindfulness, keeping your eyes on this spot (or sometimes multiple spots). Sometimes, clients feel self-conscious (“am I doing this right?”); this is often just part of the process, and this process feels very different from traditional talk therapy.
Your therapist will be present with you throughout the whole process, offering guiding presence and some verbal check-ins, observations, or questions. You will experience both sympathetic nervous system activation (emotions and physical sensations that correspond with activation) and parasympathetic activity (what we often think of as calm, grounding emotions and sensations in the body). These nervous system shifts are what your therapist is looking for and will help you navigate. Although the goal is often to shift from feeling distressed or activated about a certain topic to feeling more neutral, calm, and grounded about a topic, your Brainspotting therapist is trained in attunement and co-regulation, which allows them to help you co-exist more peacefully with whatever experience arises. Most importantly, your Brainspotting therapist should make your entire experience feel safe, even if there are difficult moments.
Why I Use Brainspotting with my Clients
As a therapist, I trust information that comes from my own lived experience with different modalities. I firmly stand by the value that I will never ask my clients to do something I’m not willing to do myself.
I found that Brainspotting allowed me to process my own stuff in a novel way. It doesn’t feel intrusive; rather, it feels both gentle and powerful at the same time. In my own personal work, I often experience profound shifts – sometimes taking activation around a topic down to zero or neutral. While it doesn’t erase or change memories, thoughts, and emotions, it allows me to hold them in my body and my consciousness differently. It changes my relationship to my inner world, which allows me to exist differently in the outside world.
Interested in Brainspotting?
There are some helpful resources on the brainspotting.com website. There, you can locate a provider near you, and you can also read helpful research and articles outlining client experiences with this modality. Psychology Today also now has a filter that allows you to find therapists near you who are trained in Brainspotting. I encourage you to do your own research and ask any potential therapist whether they themselves have experienced Brainspotting, and what it’s like. Look for someone who practices appropriate self-disclosure but has the humility to let you know that they too are human and invest their time and resources in approaches that they’ve seen in action and can firmly stand behind. If cognitive-based therapy hasn’t hit the right notes for you, I wish you deeper exploration and healing, and a sense of possibility that more is possible.
