How Brainspotting can Help You During and After Betrayal

When you trust someone and they violate that trust, your entire world is turned upside down. After fully processing the betrayal, you are thrust into a devastating pattern of anxiety, depression, and catastrophizing. This is similar to what those who’ve experienced PTSD have to deal with. 

Specifically, this phenomenon is known as betrayal trauma, and it can take a person months or even years to emerge from this darkness if they ever do.

Fortunately, with the help of professionals and a technique known as brainspotting, clients who’ve experienced betrayal trauma can get their lives back. 

What Does Betrayal Do to the Brain?

Often, trust takes many years to develop fully. We don’t usually trust someone immediately upon meeting them. However, once we’ve accepted that said person is unlikely to harm us and is, in fact, beneficial for us, we tend to let our guard down. This makes us very vulnerable to betrayal.

Then, when the person commits an act of betrayal against us, our brains see this as a threat to our survival. This can even activate our sympathetic (fight or flight) nervous system inappropriately, leading to a bounding heart rate, fast breathing, and a general sense of panic.

These sensations can be brought on by nearly anything. A seemingly innocuous comment or encounter can serve as a trigger that sends the trauma survivor into a spiral from which it can be hard to recover. 

What Is Brainspotting? 

Our brains are incredibly complex and not well-understood machines. These phenomenal organs can absorb an astonishing amount of data, interpret said information, and direct our body systems to respond appropriately. 

Much of the research interest in the past few decades has focused on the cortical and higher-processing areas of the brain—however, brainspotting taps into the more primitive portion of this organ. 

Specifically, brainspotting targets the subcortex.

The brain's subcortical region comprises the amygdala, the basal ganglia, and other structures. Each area is responsible for essential functions, such as emotional processing and memory. 

Interestingly, these areas are closely related to the visual system. Brainspotting relies heavily on this fact.

The brainspotting technique was developed in the early 2000s by a researcher named David Grand. Grand is a powerhouse in trauma therapy, having helped thousands of people through his ground-breaking treatment techniques. 

Brainspotting works by asking clients to focus their eyes on specific positions. In doing so, different parts of the subcortex are activated. This allows the client to access the issue with which they are struggling, enabling them to analyze and resolve it through various therapeutic techniques.

Brainspotting and Similar Treatments in Practice

Usually, brainspotting is not used in isolation. Many coaches, counselors, and therapists will use brainspotting alongside talk therapy and other therapeutic techniques to help their clients overcome difficult traumatic situations. 

Brainspotting is distinct from similar treatments you may have heard of in the past. Hypnosis, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and Somatic Experiencing (SE) are often all lumped together as one treatment. However, each of these therapies has subtle differences, and each can benefit clients with different needs.

For instance, hypnosis relies on the clinician taking the client into a different state in which they can be guided toward a resolution for their issue.

Alternatively, EMDR, which is also often used for trauma recovery, utilizes rapid eye movements in order to fully saturate the client’s brain with sensory information. This can serve to lessen a client’s emotional responses to the trauma or item which brought them to therapy.

Lastly, SE focuses on alternating between traumatic triggers and calming situations. In this way, through the therapist’s guidance, the client learns to respond to traumatic triggers in a healthier way.

Specific Brainspotting Outcomes

Brainspotting often leads to tons of beneficial outcomes for clients. The following list details some of the major results that many clients experience after brainspotting for betrayal trauma.

• Better recognition of one’s response to triggers.

• Awareness of where one house stress and anxiety within their body/brain.

• Overcoming the negative feelings one has been experiencing since the betrayal took place.

Beyond this list, there are many other specific benefits one might experience from partaking in brainspotting.

Brainspotting Process Explained

Depending on the professional, brainspotting can be performed in various ways. However, a brainspotting session, in general, usually follows a general format, explained below.

1. The client identifies the broad issue in question.

2. The clinician guides the client toward identifying the physical sensations involved with the issue.

3. The client is then asked to identify where, exactly, he or she is experiencing detrimental feelings within his or her body.

4. Then, the clinician gently encourages the client to move their eyes in specific ways.

5. As the clinician does so, he or she asks the client to indicate changes in the earlier identified negative feelings.

6. If there are any visual positions in which the client demonstrates unsteady vision, he or she is instructed to focus on said point. 

7. At this point, the clinician and client work together to help the client process the sensations he or she is experiencing. 

After the session, clients often continue to experience healing and improvement in various areas. 

Brainspotting is Not “One-Size-Fits-All”

As with any treatment, not everyone will experience the same level of benefit from brainspotting. Further, some clients may not benefit from the treatment at all.

If your therapist tries this treatment and it is not successful, this doesn’t mean there’s no hope for recovery. It may have been too soon to try this treatment technique, it may not have been combined with appropriate combination therapies, or there may have been any number of other issues present that prevented you from recovering from your trauma. 

To sum up: brainspotting is an interesting and effective therapeutic technique that can help betrayal trauma survivors significantly. If you are recovering after a betrayal, consider seeking a healer who employs this method with his or her clients. 

www.moodwellcoaching.com

moodwellcoaching@gmail.com