Reviewed by Kathryn Vercillo, MA Psychology | Last Updated: November 2025

What is Brainspotting?

Brainspotting is a brain-body therapy that uses specific eye positions to locate and process sources of emotional pain, trauma, and distress stored deep in the subcortical brain. Developed in 2003, this approach accesses the nervous system directly, facilitating profound healing without requiring extensive verbal processing.

Transforming Trauma Recovery Through the Brain-Body Connection

When traditional talk therapy feels insufficient for the depth of pain you carry, Brainspotting offers a different pathway to healing. This neurobiologically informed approach works with your brain’s natural capacity to process and release trauma that has become lodged in your nervous system. Across the San Francisco Bay Area, from in person San Francisco offices to telehealth sessions reaching Oakland, Berkeley, and Marin County, some of our specially trained Associate Marriage and Family Therapists guide clients through this transformative modality.

The beauty of Brainspotting lies in its simplicity and precision. Where you look affects how you feel. By identifying specific eye positions that correlate with activation in your nervous system, your therapist helps you access traumatic material that verbal processing alone cannot reach. This direct route to subcortical processing means clients often experience breakthroughs more quickly than with conventional approaches.

Our therapists bring diverse training backgrounds to Brainspotting work, ensuring you find a provider whose style resonates with your needs. Working under individual clinical supervision, they offer this specialized approach at rates that make trauma healing more accessible throughout the Bay Area.

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On This Page:

Understanding the Brainspotting Approach
How Your Brain and Eyes Connect in Healing
Conditions Brainspotting Addresses
The Brainspotting Session Experience
Brainspotting Compared to Other Trauma Therapies
Finding Your Brainspotting Therapist in the Bay Area
Starting Your Brainspotting Journey
Frequently Asked Questions About Brainspotting

Understanding the Brainspotting Approach

The Science Behind Where You Look

Your eye position connects directly to your brain’s activation patterns. When you experienced trauma, your brain stored that experience in subcortical regions, below the level of conscious thought. These stored memories continue affecting your nervous system, creating symptoms like hypervigilance, emotional flooding, or physical pain. Brainspotting provides a map to these stored experiences through the visual field.

Dr. David Grand discovered Brainspotting while working with a client using EMDR. He noticed that when the client’s eyes stopped at a particular position, their processing deepened dramatically. This observation led to the development of a entirely new modality that harnesses the brain-eye connection for healing.

Dual Attunement: The Therapeutic Relationship in Brainspotting

The quality of presence your therapist brings profoundly impacts Brainspotting’s effectiveness. We call this “dual attunement,” where your therapist attunes simultaneously to your internal experience and your external presentation. This grounded, focused presence creates safety for your nervous system to release what it has held.

Unlike therapies requiring extensive talking, Brainspotting honors that trauma often exists beyond words. Your therapist tracks subtle shifts in your body, breath, and affect while you focus on the identified brainspot. This allows your healing to unfold at the pace your nervous system can integrate.

Research published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health confirms that dual attunement represents both a relational and neurological process, where the therapist maintains connection to both the therapeutic relationship and your brain-body response. Studies comparing Brainspotting to other trauma therapies found that this attuned, empathic presence significantly contributes to reducing distress associated with painful memories, with effects comparable to established treatments like EMDR.

Resource Brainspotting for Building Capacity

Not all Brainspotting work focuses on trauma. Resource Brainspotting helps you locate and strengthen positive internal states, building resilience and capacity. Athletes use this approach to enhance performance. Artists access creative flow states. Anyone can develop their ability to self-regulate by strengthening neural pathways to positive resources. Research published in the BJPsych Bulletin discusses how building internal resources represents a critical component of effective trauma therapy, particularly for individuals who struggle to access traditional stabilization techniques. The authors note that innovative approaches providing strategies to build internal resources allow clinicians to work with patients who might otherwise be considered unsuitable for trauma processing, emphasizing that adequate resourcing enables individuals to engage productively with deeper therapeutic work.

How Your Brain and Eyes Connect in Healing

Subcortical Processing and Memory Storage

Your brain stores traumatic memories differently than regular memories. When trauma occurs, information gets processed through subcortical pathways, particularly the amygdala and limbic system, before it can reach the prefrontal cortex where conscious processing happens. Sometimes this pathway gets blocked, leaving trauma “stuck” in your nervous system.

This explains why talking about trauma sometimes provides limited relief. You are accessing the memory through cortical, conscious channels, but the subcortical activation remains untouched. Brainspotting bypasses verbal processing to work directly with subcortical material.

The Mechanism of Eye Position

Each eye position activates different neural networks. By identifying where your eyes want to go, or where they reflexively avoid, your therapist helps locate areas of activation. Holding your gaze at this position while maintaining dual attunement allows the brain to process the material that has been stored there.

Think of it as giving your brain permission to complete processing it began during the traumatic event. Your nervous system has been trying to digest this experience but lacked the safety and support to do so. Brainspotting provides both.

Bilateral Sound and Hemispheric Integration

Many Brainspotting sessions incorporate bilateral sound through headphones, alternating tones between left and right ears. This bilateral stimulation supports integration across brain hemispheres, facilitating more complete processing. The rhythm can be soothing, helping your nervous system stay regulated enough to work with difficult material.

Conditions Brainspotting Addresses

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Brainspotting demonstrates remarkable effectiveness with PTSD, including complex trauma from repeated experiences. When flashbacks, nightmares, and hypervigilance have become your daily reality, this approach offers relief by desensitizing the traumatic memories at their source.

Your therapist helps you identify the brainspot connected to your trauma activation. Rather than retelling your story repeatedly, you hold this eye position while your brain processes the stored experience. Many clients report significant reduction in PTSD symptoms within several sessions, though complex trauma typically requires more extensive work.

The approach works whether your trauma stems from a single incident or prolonged exposure. Combat veterans, survivors of accidents, witnesses to violence, and those who experienced childhood adversity all find healing through this modality across our Bay Area practice.

Anxiety Disorders and Panic

When anxiety dominates your experience, Brainspotting helps locate the root causes stored in your nervous system. Generalized anxiety often connects to earlier experiences of unpredictability or lack of safety. Panic attacks typically link to moments when your nervous system perceived life threat, even if you were not consciously aware of danger.

By processing these foundational experiences, anxiety symptoms often diminish naturally. Your nervous system no longer needs to maintain its hypervigilant stance when the original threats have been fully processed and integrated.

Social anxiety particularly responds well to Brainspotting combined with gradual exposure. As you process memories of judgment, rejection, or humiliation, your nervous system becomes less reactive to social situations. Clients throughout the Bay Area report feeling more present and connected in relationships after Brainspotting work.

Depression and Emotional Pain

Depression frequently has roots in unprocessed grief, loss, or trauma. When your nervous system has been overwhelmed, it may shut down as a protective mechanism, creating the numbness and disconnection characteristic of depression. Brainspotting helps reawaken your capacity to feel by processing the experiences that led to shutdown.

The approach also addresses negative self-beliefs that fuel depressive thinking. These beliefs often formed during traumatic experiences and became encoded in your subcortical brain. By processing the original experiences where you concluded you were worthless, unlovable, or broken, these beliefs lose their power.

Attachment Trauma and Relationship Patterns

Your earliest relationships create templates for all future connections. When those early bonds involved neglect, inconsistency, or harm, your nervous system develops protective strategies that interfere with adult intimacy. You might find yourself pushing away closeness, clinging desperately to partners, or alternating between these extremes.

Brainspotting works directly with attachment wounds, processing the experiences where you learned relationships were unsafe. As you heal these foundational injuries, your capacity for secure, satisfying connection grows. Many clients notice relationship improvements rippling through their lives as their attachment patterns shift.

Complex Grief and Loss

Grief becomes complicated when it carries trauma, guilt, or unfinished business. Perhaps you lost someone suddenly, witnessed their suffering, or carry regret about your last interactions. These layers prevent the natural grieving process from unfolding.

Brainspotting provides space to process each layer. Your therapist helps you work with the trauma of how your person died, the grief of their absence, and whatever other emotions arise. This comprehensive processing allows grief to move through you rather than remaining stuck.

Performance Blocks and Creative Barriers

Your creative expression and peak performance can be blocked by subcortical material. Perhaps you experienced harsh criticism that created performance anxiety. Maybe a failure got encoded as a self-defining moment. These blocks operate below conscious awareness yet powerfully limit your capacity.

Athletes, musicians, artists, and professionals throughout the Bay Area use Brainspotting to overcome performance anxiety and access flow states. By processing the experiences underlying your blocks and strengthening resource states, you reclaim your full capacity for expression and achievement.

Chronic Pain and Medical Trauma

Pain exists at the intersection of body and brain. While Brainspotting does not replace medical treatment, it addresses emotional and traumatic components contributing to pain perception. Medical procedures, diagnoses, and chronic illness all create trauma that affects your nervous system and pain experience.

Processing medical trauma often reduces pain intensity and improves your relationship with your body. You may discover that certain pain flares connect to emotional triggers. As you process these connections, your nervous system becomes less reactive.

Addiction and Compulsive Behaviors

Addiction typically represents an attempt to regulate a dysregulated nervous system. Substances and behaviors provide temporary relief from unbearable internal states. Brainspotting addresses the underlying dysregulation and trauma fueling addictive patterns.

By processing the pain you have been medicating and building resources for regulation, the pull toward addictive behaviors often diminishes. This approach integrates well with 12-step programs and other addiction recovery supports.

The Brainspotting Session Experience

Initial Assessment and Setup

Your first Brainspotting session begins with your therapist understanding your goals and history. They explain the process, answering any questions you have about this approach. Together, you identify what you want to work on, which might be a specific traumatic memory, a symptom pattern, or an emotional state.

Your therapist then helps you notice where you feel activation in your body when you bring this issue to mind. This somatic awareness guides the process. You might notice tension, heaviness, tingling, or other sensations. These body cues become part of how you and your therapist track the processing.

Finding Your Brainspot

Your therapist uses a pointer, moving it slowly across your visual field while you maintain focus on your internal experience. As the pointer moves, you notice where your activation increases or where your eyes want to stop. This position becomes your brainspot.

Some therapists use an “inside window” approach, following where your eyes naturally want to go. Others use an “outside window,” noting where you show reflexive responses indicating activation. Both methods effectively locate the brain-eye connection relevant to your processing.

The Processing Phase

Once your brainspot is identified, you hold your gaze at that position. Your therapist maintains quiet, attuned presence while you allow your internal experience to unfold. Processing might involve emotions, memories, body sensations, insights, or all of these.

Your job is simply to notice what comes up without trying to control or understand it. Your brain knows how to heal when given the right conditions. The brainspot plus dual attunement creates those conditions.

Sessions typically last 50 to 90 minutes, with the processing phase comprising 20 to 60 minutes depending on what emerges. Your therapist helps you close the session by grounding you back into present awareness before you leave.

Integration Between Sessions

Processing continues after your session ends. Your brain keeps working with the material that was activated. You might notice dreams, emotions, memories, or insights emerging in the days following. Some clients experience temporary increases in symptoms before improvement, as material surfaces to be released.

Your therapist will discuss what to expect and how to support yourself between sessions. Self-care becomes particularly important during active Brainspotting work. Throughout the Bay Area, our therapists provide guidance tailored to your individual needs.

Treatment Duration and Frequency

Brainspotting timelines vary based on the complexity of your concerns. Single-incident trauma might resolve in several sessions. Complex developmental trauma typically requires months of work. Most clients begin with weekly sessions, potentially spacing to biweekly as processing stabilizes.

Some people use intensive formats, meeting multiple times weekly or for extended sessions. This accelerated approach can be powerful when you have capacity for intensive work. Your therapist helps determine the right pacing for your situation.

Brainspotting Compared to Other Trauma Therapies

Brainspotting and EMDR

Both Brainspotting and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) use eye position to facilitate trauma processing. However, they differ in significant ways. EMDR uses bilateral eye movements, moving back and forth across your visual field. Brainspotting uses fixed eye positions, staying at the point of activation.

EMDR follows a structured protocol with specific phases. Brainspotting offers more flexibility, following where your brain needs to go. Many clients find Brainspotting gentler and more intuitive than EMDR, though both approaches demonstrate effectiveness.

Some of our Bay Area therapists train in both modalities, choosing which to use based on client needs and preferences. Neither approach is universally superior, they simply offer different pathways to similar destinations.

Brainspotting and Somatic Experiencing

Somatic Experiencing (SE), developed by Peter Levine, also works with the nervous system’s response to trauma. SE emphasizes titration, working with small amounts of activation at a time. Brainspotting can be titrated but sometimes moves more quickly into deeper processing.

Both approaches honor the body’s wisdom and work with subcortical material. They integrate beautifully, with many therapists drawing on both frameworks. SE’s focus on discharge of bound energy complements Brainspotting’s direct access to traumatic material.

Brainspotting and Traditional Talk Therapy

Cognitive approaches like CBT work with thoughts and beliefs, helping you reframe unhelpful patterns. This cortical work provides valuable tools but may not reach subcortical trauma. Brainspotting accesses what talk therapy cannot touch.

Many clients benefit from combining approaches. Talk therapy builds insight and skills while Brainspotting releases stored trauma. Our Associate MFTs throughout the Bay Area often integrate multiple modalities tailored to your needs.

Brainspotting and Internal Family Systems

Internal Family Systems (IFS) views your psyche as composed of various parts. Brainspotting and IFS combine powerfully, using eye position to access specific parts or exiled emotions. This integration allows both direct experience of parts and deep processing of their burdens.

Therapists trained in both modalities report enhanced effectiveness. The combination honors both the multiplicity of internal experience and the brain-body pathway to healing.

Finding Your Brainspotting Therapist in the Bay Area

Specialized Training Requirements

Brainspotting requires extensive training beyond graduate education. Therapists complete multi-day trainings in the core approach, with many pursuing advanced modules in specific applications. This specialized training ensures your therapist understands the neurobiology underlying the approach and can navigate complex processing safely.

Our Associate MFTs committed to Brainspotting have invested in this training while working under clinical supervision. This combination of specialized knowledge and ongoing supervisory support creates a strong foundation for your healing work.

Research on counselors trained in Brainspotting reveals that those who have personally experienced Brainspotting as clients demonstrate deeper understanding of the therapeutic process. A 2024 qualitative study found that counselors who engaged in Brainspotting themselves gained greater insight into the approach and felt more equipped to guide clients through their own healing journeys. These therapists reported being more present and sensitive to client needs, having resolved aspects of their own trauma through the process.

Matching with Your Ideal Therapist

Our directory allows you to filter for therapists trained in Brainspotting. Beyond this specialization, consider what else matters to you. Do you want someone with experience in your specific concerns? Does cultural background, gender, or age matter? Do you need evening or weekend availability?

Take time exploring profiles, noticing who resonates. Many therapists offer free consultations, giving you a chance to ask questions and sense whether you feel comfortable. The therapeutic relationship matters enormously, especially for trauma work.

In Person and Telehealth Options

Our therapists throughout the San Francisco Bay Area offer a combination of in-person and telehealth visits. The physical presence of an in-person visit can enhance the dual attunement central to this work. Many clients appreciate being in the same space as their therapist for trauma processing.

Telehealth Brainspotting has proven remarkably effective across the Bay Area and throughout California. Your therapist can still identify brainspots and provide attuned presence through video. Some clients feel safer processing trauma in their own homes. Both formats offer viable pathways to healing.

Understanding the Associate MFT Model

Our therapists are Associate Marriage and Family Therapists, meaning they have completed graduate training and are accruing supervised hours toward full licensure. This model allows us to offer quality care at accessible rates while our associates receive ongoing clinical guidance.

Your associate’s supervisor reviews their work, ensuring best practices and clinical excellence. This oversight adds an additional layer of support to your treatment. Many clients find associates bring fresh enthusiasm and current knowledge to their work.

Starting Your Brainspotting Journey

Taking the First Step

Beginning therapy feels vulnerable, especially when addressing trauma. Notice what you need to feel safe taking this step. Perhaps you want to read more about Brainspotting first. Maybe you need to talk with a friend who has done therapy. Honor your pace while also recognizing that healing requires moving through discomfort.

Our directory makes finding a provider straightforward. Filter for Brainspotting, review profiles, and reach out to schedule consultations. Most therapists respond within 24 hours to inquiries.

Your First Session: What Actually Happens

Your initial Brainspotting session begins with conversation. After all, your therapist wants to understand what brings you to therapy, what you hope to change, and what concerns you might have about the process. This is your time to ask questions and get a sense of whether this approach feels right for you.

Once you decide to work together, your therapist explains the Brainspotting process in detail. They describe how eye position connects to brain activation, what dual attunement means, and what you might experience during processing. Understanding the approach before you begin helps your nervous system feel safer engaging with the work.

Beginning the Work

When you are ready to begin processing work, your therapist asks you to identify what you want to focus on. This might be a specific traumatic memory, an anxiety trigger, physical pain, or an emotional state. You bring this issue to mind while noticing where you feel activation in your body. Perhaps your chest tightens, your stomach clenches, or your shoulders rise. These somatic cues guide the process.

Your therapist then uses a pointer, moving it slowly across your visual field. As you track the pointer while staying connected to your internal experience, you notice where your activation increases or where your eyes naturally want to stop. This becomes your brainspot. Some therapists ask you to indicate when you feel the strongest response. Others watch for reflexive signs like subtle eye movements, changes in breathing, or shifts in facial expression.

Once your brainspot is identified, you hold your gaze at that eye position.

Your therapist sits quietly, maintaining attentive presence while you allow whatever wants to emerge. You might experience emotions, memories surfacing, body sensations intensifying then releasing, insights arriving, or simply a sense of your brain working beneath conscious awareness. All of these responses indicate processing is happening.

Your therapist tracks subtle changes in your state, occasionally checking in with simple questions like “what are you noticing?” or offering support like “stay with that” or “let it move through you.” The processing phase typically lasts twenty to sixty minutes, depending on what emerges and your capacity that day.

Near the end of the session, your therapist helps you return to present awareness. They might guide you through grounding exercises, ask you to look around the room and notice your surroundings, or simply give your nervous system time to settle before you leave. You should never leave a session feeling activated or overwhelmed.

Ongoing Sessions: Building Momentum

Subsequent sessions follow a similar structure, though you and your therapist develop a rhythm that works for you. Some sessions focus on specific traumatic memories. Others address anxiety triggers or relationship patterns. You might spend entire sessions processing a single brainspot, or work with multiple spots as different material surfaces.

Your therapist adjusts the approach based on your responses. If processing feels too intense, they help you titrate the work, taking smaller steps. If you have significant capacity, they might guide you into deeper material. The pacing is always individualized to your nervous system.

Between sessions, processing continues. Your brain keeps working with the material that was activated. You might notice dreams, emotions, memories, or insights emerging in the days following. Some people experience temporary increases in symptoms as material surfaces to be released. Your therapist prepares you for these possibilities and remains available for support if needed.

What to Bring and How to Prepare

Brainspotting requires minimal preparation. Wear comfortable clothing since you will sit still for extended periods. Bring water to stay hydrated, as processing can be physically demanding. Avoid caffeine before sessions if you tend toward anxiety, as you want your nervous system as settled as possible for this work.

Come as you are, with whatever you are carrying that day. Your current emotional state becomes part of the work. If you arrive feeling anxious, sad, or numb, your therapist works with those states rather than requiring you to be in any particular condition.

Some clients keep journals to track their processing between sessions, noting dreams, emotions, or insights that arise. Others prefer to let the work unfold without documentation. There is no right approach, only what serves your process.

Supporting Yourself Between Sessions

While Brainspotting is powerful, it works best within a broader support system. Continue activities that regulate your nervous system: time in nature, movement practices like yoga or walking, creative expression, connection with trusted people. These resources help your system integrate the processing happening in sessions.

Consider whether you need additional complementary support. Bodywork like massage or acupuncture can help release physical holding patterns. Mindfulness or meditation practices build your capacity to stay present with difficult emotions. Nutritious food, adequate sleep, and limiting alcohol all support nervous system healing.

Throughout the Bay Area, our therapists can help connect you with complementary resources. They understand that healing engages all aspects of your life, not just what happens in the therapy room.

Frequently Asked Questions About Brainspotting

Q: How is Brainspotting different from just talking about my trauma?

A: Brainspotting accesses trauma stored in subcortical regions of your brain, below the level of conscious thought and language. When you talk about trauma, you primarily engage your prefrontal cortex, the thinking brain. This can be helpful for understanding your experience and developing coping strategies, but it often does not reach the deeper material affecting your nervous system. Brainspotting bypasses verbal processing to work directly with where trauma is held. The fixed eye position activates specific neural networks connected to your traumatic memories, allowing your brain to process and release material that words alone cannot access. Many clients notice they feel shifts in their body and emotional state during Brainspotting sessions, indicating that processing is happening at a deeper level than typical talk therapy can reach. The beauty of this approach is that you do not need to repeatedly retell traumatic stories, which can be retraumatizing. Instead, your brain does its natural healing work while your therapist provides attuned support.

Q: Will Brainspotting make me feel worse before I feel better?

A: Some people experience temporary increases in symptoms as processing begins, though this is not universal. Think of it like cleaning out a wound so it can heal properly. Material that has been buried may surface, which can feel uncomfortable in the short term. You might notice more vivid dreams, temporary emotional intensity, or increased awareness of body sensations. These experiences indicate your nervous system is releasing stored material. Your therapist will prepare you for this possibility and help you develop resources to manage any temporary discomfort. Many clients actually feel relief quite quickly as their nervous system begins discharging held energy. The processing happens at the pace your brain can integrate, meaning your system will not release more than you can handle in the moment. Between sessions, prioritize self-care and reach out to your therapist if you feel overwhelmed. Most people find that any initial discomfort is far outweighed by the healing that follows. The goal is to move through difficult material toward greater ease and wellbeing, not to stay stuck in distress.

Q: How many Brainspotting sessions will I need?

A: Treatment duration varies significantly based on the complexity and chronicity of your concerns. A single traumatic incident might resolve substantially within three to eight sessions. Complex trauma from childhood or repeated adult trauma typically requires several months to a year of work, sometimes longer. Multiple issues require more time than a singular focus. Your overall nervous system health and available resources also influence how quickly you heal. Some people respond very rapidly to Brainspotting, noticing significant shifts within a few sessions. Others need more time to build safety and capacity before deeper processing can begin. We generally recommend committing to at least eight sessions before evaluating whether Brainspotting is working for you, as initial sessions often involve building the therapeutic relationship and learning the approach. Your therapist will check in regularly about progress and adjust treatment planning as needed. Remember that healing is not linear; you may have periods of rapid change and periods where progress feels slower. Throughout the Bay Area, our therapists honor your individual timeline and pace the work appropriately for your nervous system.

Q: Can I do Brainspotting if I am already taking medication for anxiety or depression?

A: Yes, Brainspotting integrates well with psychiatric medication. Many clients work with both a psychiatrist or primary care provider for medication management and a therapist for Brainspotting. The combination often provides comprehensive support for your nervous system. Medication can help stabilize symptoms enough that you have capacity for trauma processing work. As you heal through Brainspotting, you and your prescriber might eventually discuss whether medication adjustments are appropriate, though many people continue medication long term. Never discontinue psychiatric medication without consulting your prescriber. Your Brainspotting therapist will want to know what medications you take, as this provides useful context for understanding your nervous system state. Some medications can affect your processing experience, though they generally do not prevent Brainspotting from being effective. Communicate openly with both your therapist and prescriber about your symptoms and progress. This collaborative approach ensures all aspects of your care work together toward your healing.

Q: Is Brainspotting safe for everyone, or are there situations where it might not be recommended?

A: Brainspotting is generally safe for most people, but certain situations require careful consideration. If you are actively suicidal or in crisis, stabilization takes priority before trauma processing begins. If you have certain dissociative disorders, your therapist will work carefully to ensure you have adequate grounding and orientation during sessions. Active substance use can interfere with processing; many therapists prefer clients have at least a baseline of sobriety before beginning intensive trauma work. Severe mental health conditions may require a team approach with psychiatry and possibly higher levels of care. Your physical health matters too; if you have certain medical conditions affecting your cardiovascular system or eyes, inform your therapist so they can adapt the approach if needed. During the initial consultation, your therapist will assess whether Brainspotting is appropriate for you right now or whether other preparation work should come first. This assessment is individualized to your situation. The goal is ensuring you have adequate resources and stability to engage productively with the processing that Brainspotting facilitates. Many people who initially are not ready for Brainspotting become good candidates after establishing greater stability through other therapeutic approaches.

Q: What happens if I need to cry or express strong emotions during a Brainspotting session?

A: Emotional expression is completely welcome and expected in Brainspotting work. Your therapist creates a safe container for whatever needs to emerge, whether that is tears, anger, fear, or any other feeling. Many clients worry about losing control or being too much for their therapist. These fears often relate to early experiences where your emotions were not met with acceptance. Your Brainspotting therapist is trained to stay present with intense emotion without becoming overwhelmed or needing to shut it down. In fact, emotional release often indicates that processing is happening effectively. Your nervous system is discharging energy that has been stored since the traumatic experience. While this can feel intense in the moment, most people report feeling lighter and calmer afterward. Your therapist will help you stay grounded enough to move through the emotion rather than becoming flooded. You always have control to pause or slow down if needed. Sessions are designed to ensure you end in a regulated state before leaving. Over time, many clients find their emotional range expands and they develop greater capacity to feel without becoming overwhelmed. This emotional flexibility is a sign of nervous system healing.

Q: Can Brainspotting help with issues beyond trauma, like improving my relationships or career performance?

A: Absolutely. While Brainspotting is known for trauma treatment, it works with any issue stored in your subcortical brain. Relationship patterns often stem from attachment experiences and past hurts that create protective strategies. Brainspotting helps process these underlying experiences, allowing new patterns to emerge. Career blocks might relate to past failures, criticism, or internalized messages about your capabilities. By processing these foundational experiences and strengthening resource states, you access more of your potential. Athletes use Brainspotting to overcome performance anxiety and enhance flow states. Artists work through creative blocks and access deeper inspiration. Performers process stage fright and build confidence. Executives address imposter syndrome and leadership challenges. The approach works because these issues all involve neural networks that can be accessed through specific eye positions. Essentially, wherever you feel stuck or limited, Brainspotting can help identify and process what is creating that blockage. Many clients begin Brainspotting for trauma but continue working on performance enhancement or relationship goals once initial symptoms resolve. The versatility of this approach makes it valuable across many areas of personal and professional development throughout your life.

Begin Your Healing Journey with Brainspotting

Finding the right therapeutic approach can transform your relationship with trauma, anxiety, and emotional pain. Brainspotting offers a pathway to healing that honors your brain’s natural capacity to process and release what has been stored. Across the San Francisco Bay Area, our trained Associate MFTs stand ready to guide you through this work with skill, compassion, and deep respect for your journey.

Browse our directory to find a Brainspotting therapist whose approach resonates with you. Filter by specialization to identify potential matches. Schedule consultations with providers who interest you, asking questions and sensing whether you feel comfortable beginning this vulnerable work together.

Whether you choose in-person sessions with one of our therapists who offer this or telehealth sessions from anywhere in California, effective trauma healing awaits. Your nervous system has been carrying these burdens long enough. Let us help you set them down.

Contact us at (415) 766-0276 or visit our contact page with questions about Brainspotting or our services. Your healing matters, and we are here to support you every step of the way.