BRAINSPOTTING_David_Grand Flashcards
Somatic
Somatic simply means “of the body”.
Divide the human brain into a number of different parts.
The sideways split between the left (or thinking) brain and the right (or emotional) brain.
The triune (or three-part) brain, which goes from front to back:
In the front is the cortical or thinking brain, which is found in all primates, but is most advanced in humans.
In the middle is the limbic or emotional brain, which is shared by all mammals.
In the back is the hindbrain, which contains the brainstem or the reptilian brain, so named for its primitivity.
Body-brain
What’s in the body is in the brain, and what’s in the brain is in the body.
The body and brain are interconnected and inseparable.
Our nervous systems encompass both the brain and the body, everything we feel in our bodies is, in fact, being felt in our brains.
Our bodies and our brains are inseparable; they are an integrated unit.
The body-brain is far away from analysis, thought, and even language.
What does trauma do to the brain’s processing capacity?
Trauma can overwhelm the brain’s processing capacity, leaving behind pieces of the trauma, frozen in an unprocessed state.
EMDR
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing.
A treatment model developed by Francine Shapiro in the late 1980s.
It combines eye movements and other forms of bilateral stimulation with specific protocols and procedures.
EMDR uses left-right eye movements to stimulate the opposite hemispheres of the brain, back and forth.
EMDR is highly researched and used effectively with trauma and other emotional conditions.
How does Brainspotting use our field of vision to work with trauma?
Brainspotting uses our field of vision to find where we are holding traumas in our brain.
Just as the eyes naturally scan the outside environment for information, they can also be used to scan our inside environments—our brains—for information.
Brainspotting uses the visual field to turn the “scanner” back on itself and guide the brain to find lost internal information.
By keeping the gaze focused on a specific external spot, we maintain the brain’s focus on the specific internal spot where trauma is stored, in order to promote the deep processing that leads to the trauma’s release and resolution.
field of vision
Also known as the field of view or the visual field, it is the extent of the observable world that can be seen at a given moment.
The visual field is where Brainspots are located with the client.
Which are the steps of EMDR?
1) History taking and preparation.
2) Retrieve a traumatic memory image.
3) Think of negative and positive beliefs associated with the image.
4) Bring up the image and the negative belief simultaneously and observe the emotions that emerge.
5) Rate numerically the intensity of these emotions on a scale called Subjective Units of Disturbance Scale, or SUDS, from zero, the lowest rating, to ten, the highest level.
6) Begin with the rapid left-right eye movement.
The EMDR therapist moves their hand back and forth across the client’s visual field at eye level, and the client follows the hand with their eyes.
7) Pause occasionally to see what’s going on inside.
8) Bring back the original image, to see how it and its emotional charge have changed and hopefully the intensity of the memory has been reduced.
Activation Model
The basic model of Brainspotting for clients who can comfortably tolerate higher levels of activation.
The Activation Model is in contrast to the Resource Model.
What is the guidance phrase for the clients?
Give yourself time and space, and observe your process with openness and curiosity.
1) activate (verb)
2) activation (noun)
1) To intentionally intensify our inner emotional and bodily experience by focusing on what is bothering us.
We activate in preparation for finding a Brainspot.
2) The term activation represents how we perceive the heightening of either emotions or body sensations when we bring our attention to whatever is bothering us.
Activation is the mirror that reflects what we feel in our brains and our bodies.
Activation is a specially chosen word in Brainspotting. It is more generic and all-encompassing than the words disturbance or distress.
What is the motto from Brainspotting and why?
The motto of Brainspotting is:
“Where you look affects how you feel.”
If something is bothering you, how you feel about it will literally change depending on whether you look off to your right or to your left.
Our eyes and brains are intricately woven together, and vision is the primary way that we, as humans, orient ourselves to our environment.
Signals sent from our eyes are deeply processed in the brain.
The brain then reflexively and intuitively redirects where we look, moment to moment.
Why is the now part important?
The now part is important because we are looking to orient and ground the client in the present moment. The problem is in the moment, and the activation is in the moment, as is the healing process.
What can reflexes include and what is the other name?
Reflexes can include squints, eye widening, brow furrowing, head tilting, eyebrow raising, lip biting, lip licking, nostril flaring, facial tics, coughing, sneezing, or swallowing.
Poker players call these reflexes “tells,” because they can reveal an opponent’s attempts to hide a bluff or a strong hand.
For therapists, these tells reveal information held in the brain and reflected in the body that can focus the healing process.
Outside Window Brainspotting
The original mode of Brainspotting in which the therapist locates and uses eye positions by observing reflexive responses in the client’s eyes, face, or body.
process (verb) & processing (noun)
To emotionally and/or neurobiologically experience, internally, step-by-step, over a proscribed period of time, in order to affect a change of perception or attitude.
A client’s internal experience, including memories, thoughts, emotions, or sensations in their body, as observed by the client, step-by-step, over a proscribed period of time.
In Brainspotting, this processing is done in a state of focused activation and is thus referred to as focused mindfulness.
What is the process “mapping for Brainspots”?
The observation of the eyes, face, and, as much as possible, body.
Any reflexive response, whether subtle or pronounced, counts.
Where is the body activation often felt?
Body activation is often felt in the head, throat, chest, heart, stomach, or back.
These are all areas loaded with neurons, because these areas house the brain, the spine, and the enteric nervous system—the local nervous system of the digestive system, also known as the “gut brain.”
How do we encourage curiosity and openness and discourage expectations?
“See what comes next—what comes next and then what follows. Don’t try to direct the process, and don’t try to focus it or hold it back. Trust your instincts,” I often say.
Some clients take naturally to this process; others have a learning curve, and getting accustomed with the process may take a while.
What do you do or say when you return to the original issue of the Brainspotting process?
How does it resonate now.
What does it look like?
What does it feel like?
How does your body feel?
Most important in this process is the retaking of the SUDS level.
Even if clients don’t understand the rapid, intuitive processing, they do understand when their SUDS level has dropped significantly.
This is where the nonlinear becomes linear.
How do you notice if you challenge the brain, if you mobilise it and if you change it?
The SUDS rating usually drops—sometimes one notch down, sometimes more.
The activation may increase. It means things are moving and changing; the veil of dissociation may be lifting.
Even if there is no quantitative change, we observe a qualitative shift. Anxiety may have morphed into anger or sadness as one emotional state yields to another.
How is the process of the basic Outside Window Brainspotting and how does it appear to work?
Inquire what the person wants to work on and then determine if the person is activated around it.
Look for reflexive responses in a person who is activated or focused. The person needs to be activated.
If a client isn’t already activated around an issue guide them to “go inside and do anything you need to do to activate yourself.”
The next step is to numerically rate the level of activation.
After the SUDS level is determined go straight to the somatic processes.
Ask the client, “Where do you feel the activation in your body now?”
Whatever the client responds with, we accept without question.
Move the pointer across the person’s visual field at eye level, starting at either the left or the right.
“Map” the Brainspot looking for a reflexive response, whether subtle or pronounced.
Once we identify the reflexive location, or Outside Window Brainspot, guide the client to mindfully observe their inner process, wherever it goes.
Return to our starting point—the chosen issue and its SUDS rating—change is almost always evident. Sometimes the shift is subtle, and sometimes it is dramatic.
How is the process of the Inside Window Brainspot?
Choose an issue to work on.
Make sure it carries activation.
Identify the SUDS level.
Locate the body sensations.
As the client slowly scans horizontally across their field of vision, they inform where they feel the most activation.
(Sometimes the clients were clear about their felt sense and found a Brainspot on the first try. For others, the felt sense was more subtle, and we traverse the visual field back and forth a few times before locating the eye position.)
First explore the x axis (horizontal axis - left, right and centre point) and then explore the y axis (vertical axis - straight up from eye level, downward below eye level and centre point).
focused activation
The state attained by the set-up process of Brainspotting (activation, SUDS level assessment, and body awareness).
Focused activation helps the therapist and client to locate the Brainspot and leads to focused mindfulness.
It is theorized that activation of the emotions and body sensations that occur around a single issue or situation brings about more focused brain activity.
