Below, you'll find an example of a tool used in EMDR in which your eye movement is observed by a guided light.
"Most technical therapists, such as EMDR, place primary emphasis on the procedures the client has to follow. These procedures are technical and not relational because they require the therapist to lead the client through specifically outlined steps. The degree of attention to technique draws attention away from the essence of the relationship between client and therapist. As effective as EMDR is, by using it, the therapist's attended relationship with the client does not receive enough attention.
By contrast, Brainspotting is built on a model in which the therapist simultaneously attunes to the client and the client's brain processes. With Brainspotting, neither the relational attunement nor the attunement to the client's brain-body process needs to be sacrificed for the other. In fact, when the two attunements are interwoven together, the healing process is far more powerful and lasting."
— From Brainspotting by Dr. David Grand, 2013
To observe what takes place in a Brainspotting session, click here for an example.
"In 2003, when I discovered Brainspotting, I wasn't looking for a new therapy, at least not consciously. The discovery just happened, or so it seemed. Until that time, I had been successfully using other theorists' methods. I was originally trained in the early 1980s as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist at the Society for Psychoanalytic Study and Research on Long Island, New York, where I live.
In 1993, I was trained in EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing), a more procedural brain-body technique. In 1999, I was exposed to somatic experiencing (SE), which is a deeply body-oriented method. I integrated psychoanalysis, EMDR, and SE into what I called Natural Flow EMDR, a therapeutic method that drew from all three approaches. I wrote about my integrative method in my first book, Emotional Healing at Warp Speed, which was released eleven days before the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001."
— Dr. David Grand
Once the spot is held, the work happens quietly. Attention rests there. Bilateral sound, gentle and rhythmic, supports the system. The brain does what it knows how to do — it begins to process, integrate, and release.
Brainspotting is a simultaneous form of diagnosis and treatment. It is deep, direct, and powerful, yet focused and containing. Sessions are conducted at a pace the client controls.