Brainspotting

Domain VI · Brief, integrative, trauma, hypnosis & coaching · David Grand · 2003

What it is

BSP has no fixed phase sequence or session count. It is organised around models and a session procedure.

Format

• BSP has no fixed phase sequence or session count. It is organised around models and a session procedure.
• Session procedure, repeated for each issue: Set up the frame: issue, then activation rated 0–10, then where it is felt in the body, then finding the spot.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Readiness and preparation. "Assessing readiness/Preparing for Brainspotting" is a certification competency, but its content was not found. Grand advises against using BSP when major psychiatric illness is poorly treated, when addiction is active, or when the client has too little support, because it may destabilise them. He also says the therapist needs expertise in the client's specific condition and that trauma…
• Brainspotting Trainings also offers intensives.
• Move from Phase 1 to Phase 2 skills (One-Eye, Z-axis, Rolling, Advanced Resource) once the Phase 1 methods are mastered. Certification requires Phases 1 and 2, six consultation hours and 50 documented sessions.

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Evidence status. In one comparative study, three 60-minute BSP sessions reduced PTSD symptoms, with smaller pre-post effects than EMDR. This is given only for orientation.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Eye strain or headache. Allow rests.
• Never end with the client dysregulated or dissociated.
• Do not override the client's report with your observation.
• Clients may over-deliberate. Encourage a quick felt choice.
• Destabilisation between sessions. If it occurs, stop self-practice.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.