What Is Brainspotting? A Science-Backed Approach to Healing Trauma and Anxiety
- Danielle Lucia, LMFT
- Jul 13
- 3 min read
If you’ve tried talk therapy or even EMDR and still feel like something’s missing, you’re not alone. Many of my clients come in saying, “I understand why I feel the way I do, but I still feel stuck.” That’s where Brainspotting comes in - a powerful, body-based therapy that reaches the places talk therapy and logic can’t.
Whether you’re dealing with anxiety, attachment trauma, or CPTSD, Brainspotting can help you release what’s stored in your body so you can actually feel better - not just understand what’s wrong.
What Is Brainspotting?
Brainspotting is a powerful therapeutic technique that works by identifying “brainspots” - specific eye positions that correlate with areas in your brain where trauma and emotional pain are stored. When you focus on one of these spots while staying connected to the sensations in your body, your brain and nervous system begin to process and release that stored material - often without needing to talk through every detail.
It’s not hypnosis. It’s not traditional talk therapy. It’s a way to tap into your brain’s natural healing ability — especially the deep, subcortical parts that hold trauma, fear, and unresolved emotional pain.
The Science Behind Brainspotting
Here’s what makes Brainspotting different — and effective:
It bypasses the thinking brain (neocortex) and goes straight to the parts of the brain that control emotion, survival responses, and body memory — specifically the subcortical brain, including the amygdala and hippocampus.
Our eyes are literally connected to the brain through the optic nerve. Eye position can help access different parts of the brain — and trauma tends to live in these hidden pockets.
When a brainspot is found, and you stay with it while tracking internal sensations, the brain begins deep processing — similar to how REM sleep allows emotional memories to be digested.
This processing continues even after the session ends, allowing for long-term change with minimal reactivation.
Brainspotting vs. EMDR: What’s the Difference?
Both Brainspotting and EMDR are trauma-focused, evidence-informed therapies — but they work differently.
Brainspotting | EMDR |
No bilateral stimulation needed | Uses bilateral stimulation (tapping, eye movement) |
Highly attuned, relational, and flexible | More structured and protocol-driven |
You can process without re-telling your trauma | Often involves reprocessing trauma memories in detail |
Encourages deep body awareness and somatic tracking | Primarily focuses on cognitive reprocessing |
Good for clients who are highly sensitive, dissociative, or perfectionistic | May be too stimulating or fast-paced for some nervous systems |
Effective for complex trauma, attachment wounds, and anxiety | Effective for single-event trauma and PTSD |
Many people who found EMDR too intense or rigid feel safer and more grounded with Brainspotting — especially those with attachment trauma, developmental trauma, or CPTSD.
Why Brainspotting Intensives Can Accelerate Healing
Brainspotting is powerful even in weekly sessions — but for many people, intensives offer a deeper, faster path to healing.
What’s a Brainspotting intensive?
It’s a 1–3 day focused experience where we work together for a few hours at a time (with breaks and care built in), allowing you to go farther, faster without stopping just as you start to go deep.
Why they work:
You don’t have to “close down” after 50 minutes and carry it all into the week.
There’s space to slowly process complex or layered trauma at your own pace.
You stay in the window of healing long enough for your nervous system to complete patterns it’s been stuck in for years.
You leave with tools, insight, and a felt sense of change — not just a plan to work on it later.
For people who are stuck, burned out on traditional therapy, or ready to move through something big, intensives can be a reset button for the nervous system.
You Deserve More Than Just Coping
If you’ve tried to “think your way out of it,” white-knuckle your anxiety, or analyze every past event and still don’t feel better — it’s not your fault. Healing doesn’t happen in your thoughts. It happens in your nervous system.
Brainspotting helps you go where words can’t — gently, safely, and deeply.
Whether you’re interested in weekly sessions or ready for a Brainspotting intensive, you deserve healing that meets you where you are.
Phone: (858) 375-6514
Website: www.DanielleLucia.com
Instagram: @traumahealingwithdanielle
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