A new crop of therapeutic techniques is trying to prove that the mind and body are more connected than previously known. That includes Brainspotting, a 20-year-old eye movement–based therapeutic technique. It has helped some patients access deep-seated emotional blockages.
“We store information we’ve experienced as memories, but also in our bodies,” says Vicki Steine, an LCSW and board-certified holistic nutritionist based in Cobb County who has practiced the therapy in her private practice for a decade. “Brainspotting is a way to get down into some of the deep-level stuff where you need to address how the body responds to whatever is going on. Where you look affects how you feel.”
Brainspotting was created by eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapist Dr. David Grand. EMDR has been around almost 40 years and has become a popular way for patients to reprocess trauma. EDMR has therapists move their hands back and forth across a patient’s eyes, a process called bi-lateral stimulation, as a way to reorganize and store memories. Brainspotting has similar goals, but instead, the therapist keeps the hand in one place. Therapists are trained to read signs that a patient has reached something of note that they can explore, such as a physical tell…