What’s the Difference between Brainspotting and EMDR Therapy?
Brainspotting and EMDR are both trauma healing modalities that work at the level of the body and the nervous system. I find it helpful to explain the differences.
What is Brainspotting and What is EMDR?
EMDR stands for “eye movement desensitization and reprocessing.” It is a scripted process led by the therapist, who directs us where to look and what to think about, and asks us about the level of distress in the body as they do so. Over time, the intensity of traumatic memories often lessen.
Brainspotting emerged from EMDR and has an impressive evidence-base in terms of long term results for healing PTSD, CPTSD, anxiety, depression, panic and OCD symptoms. In Brainspotting, our nervous systems lead the process and the practitioner follows, creating a supportive and safe environment for the body to resolve traumatic memories and extreme stress.
In addition, Brainspotting also supports high performance and is often used by corporate leaders, professional athletes, and performers who require a consistently high level of achievement in their work.
Brainspotting is more body-focused and self-led. Rather than the EMDR therapist deciding where to go and at what pace, Brainspotting empowers our nervous systems to know when to heal, what to heal, and at what pace.
What To Expect in a Brainspotting Session vs. an EMDR Session
EMDR sessions are scripted and led by the therapist. Once you start, you follow the therapist’s lead, answer their questions, and try not to move when they tell you not to. You don’t have a lot of autonomy and the therapist is in a position of authority as the one leading and directing the process.
EMDR sessions involve a set eye position and movement sequence that is the same every time. We don’t get to choose where to look, or when to shift our gaze from one point to the other. EMDR therapists often use machines with blinking lights to indicate when we should shift our gaze, and where. Alternately, we follow with our gaze as they move their hands back and forth at a fixed pace — although this can be tiring for them.
But compliance is a threat response. Needing to comply with EMDR instructions naturally creates stress, especially for those of us with people-pleasing or fawning tendencies (which is a natural response to CPTSD and developmental trauma).
It’s easy to subconsciously slip into a dynamic where we are trying to please the EMDR therapist, “do it right,” and make them happy. Because the EMDR therapist must follow the protocol (which is like a script), they may not be aware of our people-pleasing and even so, there’s not much they can do about it.
Brainspotting sessions are led by the intelligence of the nervous system, which knows how to heal. In Brainspotting, we find a unique and specific eye position that activates the neural networks associated with issue we want to work on. As the Brainspotting practitioner guides our eyes across the visual field (up and down, side, to side, and forward to back), we find the spot to look at by noticing the activation in our bodies.
If we’re numb or dissociated, which is common with PTSD, CPTSD, anxiety, depression, panic, and OCD symptoms, the Brainspotting practitioner helps us find the spot by carefully observing our reflexes.
We know that we’re tapping into these networks because we feel our body and nervous system respond. Physical contraction or tension, strong emotions, or a even a stress response indicate that we’re now connected to where the nervous system stores the associated imprints of the past, frozen in time since the trauma.
Throughout the Brainspotting session, that fixed point will continue to initiate activation and nervous system processing. But we don’t have to look there. With openness and curiosity, we mindfully follow wherever our eyes want to go. Maybe they want to close, or look elsewhere. Maybe the body wants to move, or we want to make sounds. We follow that and allow whatever wants to arise to surface and express, as we mindfully observe the process.
The other key difference about Brainspotting is you don’t have to talk about the issue, or even remember it, in order to heal. Processing happens below the level of the thinking, logical part of the brain, at the level of the nervous system.
What’s important is that you witness your process with curiosity and compassion. You can share as much as you want, but you don’t need to share what you’re experiencing for the process to work.
If you haven’t told anyone about what happened in the past, you don’t have to let that keep you from healing.
This is very powerful, particularly for people who want to heal without needing to revisit the past. It’s entirely possible, with this modality.
The Neuroscience of Brainspotting vs. EMDR
It’s hypothesized that Brainspotting and EMDR access entirely different processing pathways in the brain and the nervous system. EMDR relies on directed eye movement to access deep parts of the brain and prompt healing. Because we are following the EMDR therapist’s instructions, the thinking part of the brain (the neocortex) stays online and active. This can sidestep deep processing, because in EMDR we need to remain attentive and verbally answer the therapist’s questions and directions.
In Brainspotting, we follow the organic responses of the body and nervous system and stay looking in one place, allowing time and space to process. This allows the nervous system to gently but reliably bypass the thinking mind, and connect deeply to the older parts of the midbrain and nervous system. This is where the frozen imprints of trauma are stored — not in the mind, but the body.
The power of Brainspotting is in the stillness, which naturally and gently activates the system and allows the nervous system to process and self-regulate at its own pace.
If you’re curious about Brainspotting and want to learn more, reach out to me and I’ll send you an information packet. You’re welcome to send me questions or set up a call as well.
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