EMDR Therapy vs Brainspotting: Why Your Brain Needs More Than Talk Therapy
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RECOVERable: Mental Health and Addiction Experts Answer Your Questions
54 min
1 speaker
8 chapters
transcribed 27 days ago
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What is brainspotting therapy and how does it differ from traditional talk therapy?
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You don't have to share anything for a brain spotting session to work.
Licensed clinical psychologist and trauma expert Dr. Jenny Hughes joins us to explore how brain spotting and EMDR help to process traumatic memories. Is brain spotting effective for anxiety, depression, chronic stress, eating disorders? Yes, yes, yes. Okay. Hi and welcome to Recoverable. I'm your host, Terry McGuire. Have you ever noticed that when you try to remember a hard day or specific event or process a big emotion? Your eyes kind of wander and sometimes settle in on a spot. Well, today we're exploring that brain spotting, a revolutionary therapy based on the idea that where you look affects how you feel. Dr. Jenny Hughes is with us again, and we are going to talk with her. She is both a trauma therapist and a psychologist, and we're gonna dive into how a simple pointer like the one on the table can unlock deep-seated traumas that years of talking didn't touch.
Thank you so much for having me again. Welcome back. I'm glad to do this because this is one I haven't heard of. EMDR I had heard of. We talked about that last week. And this is a different one that you say is also really effective.
Yeah, and it's actually that's that's a really common thing that people will say is they've heard of EMDR or maybe they kinda heard of brain spotting, but they never have. And they're actually uh in the historical lineage very connected, but ultimately quite different interventions for trauma. We're gonna
learn about it. We're gonna start by a quick lightning round of myth or fact to address some of the misconceptions around it. And then we will, like we did last week, dive into it in more depth. So Dr. Hughes, truth or myth? Brain spotting is basically just a different name for EMDR.
Uh myth, 100%. It it was developed by and out of EMDR, but it is totally different. Myth or fact,
where you look affects how you feel.
True. That's true. That's a fact. And just like you said in the at the top of it, our eyes and our brain naturally do this, and we can use that for therapy now. It is interesting.
Interesting how often I use myself looking. Yeah. And when I think it's like upper right and then you see people when they're sad or something, there's, you know, the stereotype of someone looking down for a reason. Yep, exactly. Very interesting. So myth or fact, you have to talk through your trauma for a brain spotting session to work.
Myth, you don't have to share anything for a brain spotting session to work. Like you don't have to
say, this is why I'm here.
Uh, it's helpful to know why you're here, but once we get past that, and that can be very brief as well, you truly don't have to even talk.
I look forward to hearing more. So Mytherfact, the brain spotting therapist, uses a pointer to find a spot in the brain.
Uh fact. Seems to say true. Fact. Uh, but we don't always use a pointer. So there's a lot of ways to find a brain spot. And the pointer is a great way for us to help kind of hold that spot for the client as they're doing the work.
related myth or fact. If you can't see the pointer, the therapy won't work.
Oh, that's a myth. And like I said, I actually don't use my pointer a whole lot anymore as a brain spotting therapist because I've learned how to really harness that our my clients are brain spotting all the time.
Myth or fact. Brain spotting is only used for big T traumas.
Myth. It is used for anything. Little T, big T, and things that don't on the surface maybe look like they would be traumatic or stressful.
Which common myths about brainspotting are true and which are false?
Myth or fact, you often listen to music during a brain spotting session.
So that is can be true. So the developer of brain spotting, uh, his name's David Grant. He developed something called biolateral music. So it is music in headphones that will go back and forth between the ears, but not on the beat necessarily. It's called biolateral.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is brainspotting therapy and how does it differ from traditional talk therapy?
0:00–3:51
2
Which common myths about brainspotting are true and which are false?
3:51–8:09
3
How was brainspotting accidentally discovered by David Grand?
8:09–12:03
4
What are the key similarities and differences between EMDR and brainspotting?
12:03–18:29
5
How does brainspotting actually work – what is the role of the ‘inside window’ and eye position?
18:29–24:09
6
What therapist tools, variations, and training are required for effective brainspotting?
24:09–34:05
7
What changes can clients expect after completing brainspotting therapy?
34:05–48:20
8
How can someone decide whether brainspotting or EMDR is the right therapy for them?
48:20–54:11
Speakers
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