Brainspotting is a groundbreaking treatment that operates on the principle that where you look affects how you feel. At Spectrum Behavioral Health LLC, the team of elite mental health clinicians offers both eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) and brainspotting in their Green Bay, Wisconsin, office. These treatments can offer impressive results for patients with mental health struggles, particularly trauma. In-office and virtual brainspotting sessions are available. To learn more, call the office or click the online scheduling tool now.

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What is brainspotting?

Brainspotting is an innovative method of mental health care that helps you process and deal with difficult thoughts and emotions using fixed eye movements. Many patients who struggle with their mental health can benefit from brainspotting, including:

  • Depression
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
  • Anxiety disorders
  • Anger issues
  • Substance abuse or addiction

If you’re struggling with one or more of these issues, brainspotting can be part of your solution.

How does brainspotting work?

With brainspotting, you choose an incident, memory, or feeling to tackle (any issue that you’re struggling with). A trained clinician works hand-in-hand with you to discover the brainspot — the specific eye position that’s tied to that particular issue.

After finding that brainspot and focusing on it, your brain works on the issue rapidly, processing the issue and helping you overcome it. The brainspot is like a doorway to memories from your past.

The human brain has enormous self-healing potential, and brainspotting is an innovative way of accessing that ability while focusing on traumatic memories.

Brainspotting sessions are unique to each person. Trained clinicians can guide and support you as you move through brainspotting sessions. If your feelings grow too intense in a brainspotting session, your clinician can immediately help you move away from that distressing memory.

Is brainspotting a type of EMDR?

Brainspotting is an outgrowth of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). The doctor who created brainspotting, David Grand, PhD, developed brainspotting as an extension of his extensive EMDR research.

EMDR involves rapid eye movements up and down or side to side, in contrast to the fixed gaze of brainspotting. Also, brainspotting homes in on one part of the brain, and EMDR involves the entire brain.

In EMDR, it’s common to use a light bar, and you follow that light with your eyes. With brainspotting, it’s common for clinicians to use a laser pointer to help you focus in a certain area.

How does brainspotting compare with talk therapy?

Talk therapy involves the thinking brain (neocortex), while brainspotting involves the reactive brain (subcortex). Both talk therapy and brainspotting have great benefits for many people who struggle with mental disorders.

But in general, brainspotting may be a good option for people who need rapid results. Brainspotting can help you deal with unresolved trauma in as little as a couple of sessions, although every case is unique.

Are you ready to learn more about brainspotting? Call the office or click the online booking feature now.