Brainspotting for anxiety can be beneficial for those who are struggling with mental health disorders. Anxiety is a normal part of life that most people have at some point. For example, you could feel anxious when you need to speak in front of a crowd of people. However, for some people, their anxiety becomes more intense and can cause them to worry, fear, and feel constantly overwhelmed.
What is Brainspotting Therapy?
Brainspots are areas of the brain that contain specific emotions or thoughts. These areas are often locked away and difficult to access. They can hold painful, uncomfortable, or negative feelings that we struggle to resolve.
Brainspotting therapy helps us identify brainspots through specific eye positions that relate to a particular experience, memory, thought, or emotion. The purpose of brainspotting therapy is to unlock these eye positions to help us overcome our anxiety.
What is Anxiety?
Anxiety is an emotional response that triggers us to feel nervous, afraid, or unsure. When these feelings begin to affect our daily lives, it could be the result of an anxiety disorder, such as:
- Social Anxiety Disorder
- Separation Anxiety Disorder
- Panic Disorder
- Agoraphobia
- Specific Phobias
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
In addition, PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) is a type of anxiety disorder where a person has flashbacks and relives a traumatic experience over and over. As a result, their anxiety levels increase whenever they are in a situation similar to the traumatic event.
How Does Brainspotting Therapy Work?
A qualified therapist helps guide you during the therapy session to locate a brainspot. It is common to have uncomfortable feelings and emotions when you find one. However, it is essential to maintain the eye position, so you have time to focus on the cause of those feelings and emotions.
By uncovering the source of the issue, you can learn how to release the feelings and emotions tied to the memory, experience, or thought. As you let go, it helps you to heal, process, and overcome your anxiety.
Can Brainspotting Therapy Treat Anxiety?
Yes, brainspotting for anxiety is an effective form of therapy when combined with other types of therapies, such as CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy). Brainspotting for anxiety works to help you overcome emotions and heal traumatic experiences. Therapy sessions follow a specific process to guide each step of the way as follows:
- The therapist asks you to mention a memory, experience, event, or thought that makes you feel anxious.
- Next, the therapist helps you focus on the specific physical feelings you experience.
- Then, the therapist asks you to think about the source of these feelings.
- While thinking about the source, the therapist guides your eye movements until locating a brainspot.
- After this, you are directed on how to fixate on this specific eye position.
- As you do, your therapist has you discuss the emotions and feelings causing your anxiety.
- This discussion can help you process those emotions and feelings so you can learn how to let go of them and reduce your anxiety.
- At the end of each session, you are given time to reflect on the experience.
Future therapy sessions continue to dive deeper into your anxiety, uncover their triggers, and help you uncover their causes.
How Effective is Brainspotting Therapy?
Brainspotting therapy can be very effective in helping overcome different types of anxiety disorders and phobias. Many people report a noticeable reduction in their anxiety levels during therapy sessions that continues after the session is over.
Part of the reason anxiety levels continue to decrease is brainspotting therapy helps stimulate the brain to create new pathways to heal itself. Furthermore, you and your therapist can identify the underlying cause of the anxiety disorder. As a result, you can learn how to overcome anxiety and move forward in life.
Can Brainspotting Be Used to Treat Anxiety and Addiction?
Anxiety and addiction is a common co-occurring disorder that results in one of two ways. The first one is where the individual misuses drugs or alcohol as a means to alleviate their anxiety, which often leads to addiction.
The second one occurs when the substance alters the brain’s chemistry, causing stress hormones to increase. As stress hormone levels continue to increase, it can trigger an anxiety disorder.
Brainspotting for anxiety and addiction can be just as effective at helping the individual overcome their anxiety and addiction. The process is similar and helps them locate brainspots related to their anxiety or addiction. The goal of using brainspotting to treat this co-occurring disorder is to help the person resolve their anxiety so that they can manage their sobriety more effectively.
Brainspotting for Anxiety Treatment in Atlanta, GA
When you have tried traditional forms of therapy with little success at overcoming your anxiety disorder, brainspotting therapy could be the perfect alternative. Brainspotting therapy can be an independent therapy or combined with other therapies depending on your specific needs.
At Buckhead Behavioral Health in Atlanta, Georgia, we are here to guide and assist you through each of your brainspotting therapy sessions. We also offer brainspotting for anxiety and addiction as well as other co-occurring conditions. To learn more about brainspotting and how it can benefit you or to schedule an initial consultation, visit our admissions page today.
