EMDR and Brainspotting

EMDR and Brainspotting are two “Power Therapies” for resolving unhelpful emotional, physical and behavioral symptoms of a variety of psychological diagnosis and experiences. These therapies are power therapies in that they are efficient, effective, and provide for the preservation of complete privacy even from the therapist when desired. In both therapies, remarkably, clients have the option of working through in silence. Neither therapy require exposure or constant rehashing of the trauma through talk; neither require the brilliance of a therapist’s analytical skills. They rely instead on the biological principles of homeostasis and the minds natural healing properties. These power therapies merely hold space and time for the mind to reorganize itself in the service of peace from internal noise.

To paraphrase Naval Ravikant “We seek not peace of mind rather, peace from the noisy mind ”.

Conceptually, all psychological diagnosis can be understood as symptoms under the larger umbrella of PTSD. What is PTSD? We say someone has PTSD when symptoms indicate that their mind is sending the body the message that the system is in danger and it must prepare for fight or flight even when there is no present danger. Why does this happen? Our brain has evolved to be excellent at two jobs: to keep the system alive and to reproduce. Every day our mind catalogs millions of details and files them into various folders: “store as a memory” or “pleasurable, seek out similar” and “dangerous - keep in front of mind and be vigilant” Sometimes when we experience a survival threat our mind does not fully process the multitude of details into their proper file folders, it instead stores every detail as a potential threat. This is when PTSD develops; this is why we have panic attacks, anxiety attacks or low grade constantly heightened vigilance referred to as generalized anxiety or GAD. For example, if I were to be in a car accident while a favorite song is playing, the next time that song is heard, my survival instinct will be triggered; my mind will tell the body, “the last time we heard that song we were in danger so be alert, be prepared!” Thus the fight or flight survival instinct is triggered and I experience heightened anxiety, a full panic attack, flashbacks of car accident or other symptoms of PTSD.

THE INTERVENTIONS

EMDR or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing works by first identifying the traumatic event to be reprocessed then stimulates the mind into entering the processing mode experienced during the restorative REM (rapid eye movement) cycle of sleep. The client is not hypnotized and does not fall asleep. The client does enter into a mildly altered state of mind with one foot in the room and one foot in the process.

EMDR is a highly structured process that creates and holds the space and time the mind needs to sort out the innumerable details of the event. The end result is a mind that has identified and will hold present the danger cues for future safety (the rain is heavy, I am at risk of hydroplaning) and store as memories to be recalled at will the insignificant details unimportant to survival (I’ve listened to that song a thousand times and know all the words) The minds is now desensitized to the song as it has been reprocessed or reinterpreted as something to be enjoyed not feared.

Brainspotting is an evolution of EMDR and discovered by early EMDR practitioner, David Grand PhD.

Unlike EMDR which starts with the traumatic memory that set the survival mechanism into overdrive, Brainspotting starts with the physical sensations coming up in the present. We call these somatic feelings ‘emotions’. Through targeted bio-lateral stimulation we invite the mind to reprocess the physical memory and reorganize accordingly thus allowing the brain to achieve its own optimal functioning or homeostasis by reorganizing its wiring - detaching any wires that have been sending out false alarms of danger This somatic approach is significant as many events that affect our emotional well being happened before we could speak or form memories** and remain out of reach from talk therapy, CBT and many other approaches. Brainspotting sessions may then proceed in absolute silence as the traumas are being worked through in the body and muscle memory of the system.

For the best explanation of this therapy I invite you to visit the brainspotting website. For an oversimplified explanation of how Brainspotting and EMDR differ I offer this: Neuroscience tell us that memories are not stored in a region of the brain rather in a system comprised of the eyes, mind and body. Brainspotting finds through eye position the “access point” of the memory file marked “For our Survival” and like EMDR, holds the space and time for the mind to sort through what it failed to process and categorize at the time of the trauma. Material that does not belong there is re-categorized and in doing so the emotional distress evaporates.

**There is growing interest in the effect the birth process and in-utero experiences have on the trajectory of emotional health over the lifespan. Brainspotting can access and heal us from the memories of these earliest of life life trauma.