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Brainspotting: The Revolutionary New Therapy for Rapid and Effective Change
Brain-based therapy is the fastest-growing area in the field of psychological health because it has proven that it can immediately address issues that talk therapy can take years to heal. Now Dr. David Grand presents the next leap forward in psychological care-combining the strengths of brain-based and talk therapies into a powerful technique he calls Brainspotting. In Brainspotting, Dr. Grand reveals the key insight that allowed him to develop this revolutionary therapeutic tool: that where we look reveals critical information about what's going on in our brains. Join him to learn about: . The history of Brainspotting-how it evolved from EMDR practice as a more versatile tool for brain-based therapy . Brainspotting in action-case studies and evidence for the effectiveness of the technique . An overview of the different aspects of Brainspotting and how to use them . How Brainspotting can be used to treat PTSD, anxiety, depression, addiction, chronic pain, and much more "Brainspotting lets the therapist and client participate together in the healing process," explains Dr. Grand. "It allows us to harness the brain's natural ability for self-scanning, so we can activate, locate, and process the sources of trauma and distress in the body." With Brainspotting, this pioneering researcher introduces an invaluable tool that can support virtually any form of therapeutic practice-and greatly accelerate our ability to heal.
179 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2012
303 people are currently reading
829 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
February 13, 2019
Rather self-congratulatory; lots of wishful thinking. I believe the modality is useful, but while this book explains (in rather too much depth) how the author developed his theories, and "coined this term" for each new development, there is too little here for a therapist to incorporate into practice without actually taking a certification course, and minimal practical information to help a layperson self-brainspot.
It's really an ad for certification and the author's audio CD of music which is similar to binaural beats.
I love the concept. I understand it from reading this book. I could've understood it in a 15-page essay. I can't do it to myself, my therapist can't do it without training, and it might have been a better idea to spend the money to see a Brainspotting practitioner rather than read a very long and egotistical commercial.
But the THEORY? The theory is awesome. Yet, they still don't know why it works.
It's really an ad for certification and the author's audio CD of music which is similar to binaural beats.
I love the concept. I understand it from reading this book. I could've understood it in a 15-page essay. I can't do it to myself, my therapist can't do it without training, and it might have been a better idea to spend the money to see a Brainspotting practitioner rather than read a very long and egotistical commercial.
But the THEORY? The theory is awesome. Yet, they still don't know why it works.
October 13, 2013
Brainspotting is one of several therapeutic methods that have roots in the explosion in understanding of brain plasticity that neuroscience has provided in the past 20 years. Somatic experiencing (see books by Peter Levine), eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), and brainspotting are three of these. In fact, brainspotting uses elements of the prior two.
This book is an overview of brainspotting by the discoverer, David Grand. It has several chapters on the different ways of identifying the brainspot, which the author's website defines as "the eye position which is related to the energetic/emotional activation of a traumatic/emotionally charged issue within the brain, most likely in the amygdala, the hippocampus, or the orbitofrontal cortex of the limbic system." (http://www.brainspotting.pro/page/wha...) These are followed by several chapters discussing the application of brainspotting to trauma, sports performance, and even decision-making. Overall, it's a great read for both lay audiences and therapists or neuroscientists who want an introduction.
Some reviewers criticize the book as being too personal. I find Dr. Grand's personal writing style to be engaging. His passion comes through. His care for his patients does as well. In the books and various videos online he comes across as simultaneously confident, willing to experiment, and humble enough to know that other therapists or researchers will make discoveries that supercede brainspotting.
Perhaps the most valuable part of the book is the chapter with exercises for doing brainspotting by yourself. It requires that you've understood the prior chapters. I think watching some YouTube videos by David Grand can only help to understand the book and the technique.
I would like to see two more things in the book: First, more instruction in how to self-process trauma. However, I understand that could be a dangerous thing without a therapist, too. Perhaps that's why the author didn't provide it. Second, instruction in how to use brainspotting for decision-making. The story the author told about using brainspotting with an author-playwrite to determine if he wanted to direct his own play or not was exciting. I'm left a little frustrated that there was no detail on how to use it for my own decisions, such as those critical ones related to job and family.
Here is an example of how it works from my own life: In the late 1990s, I was walking at night in Houston. A car pulled alongside me. I heard a shout, looked over, and saw a masked man pointing a gun at me from the backseat. I ran. They pursued. The parked cars on the side of the streets provided cover for me to duck and change directions. Dodged, ducked, dipped, dived, and dodged some more for about two blocks. They had two or three clear shots at me during this but never fired. Then they drove off as I made my way toward a main road, shouting.
Even though my body had orchestrated an instinctual flight response that possibly saved my life, this came up in therapy as something to explore. First we looked for a happy memory that had a lot of emotional power for me; I chose the birth of my first son. My eye position as I told this story was up and to the right, and obviously I felt happy and expansive. This becomes a "resource" for the session, something positive to go back to. As I told the story of the gun struggle, my eyes went hard down left to a spot on the floor. I felt threatened and vulnerable. This is the "activation point".
My therapist asked me what my body wanted to do. My body wanted to defend myself instead of run. While holding my eyes on the activation point, I pictured grabbing the gunman and flinging him against the chain link fence behind me while simultaneously disarming him and gaining control of the gun. The activation point changed from being negative (anxious feeling) to positive (satisfied, happy). The memory lost its negative charge and was instead replace with the positive feeling of having successfully fought and defended myself.
What underlies all of this is that the brain and the body are not actually separate entities, as all of our western medicine and psychology have assumed. All in all, a very satisfying read. Highly recommended.
This book is an overview of brainspotting by the discoverer, David Grand. It has several chapters on the different ways of identifying the brainspot, which the author's website defines as "the eye position which is related to the energetic/emotional activation of a traumatic/emotionally charged issue within the brain, most likely in the amygdala, the hippocampus, or the orbitofrontal cortex of the limbic system." (http://www.brainspotting.pro/page/wha...) These are followed by several chapters discussing the application of brainspotting to trauma, sports performance, and even decision-making. Overall, it's a great read for both lay audiences and therapists or neuroscientists who want an introduction.
Some reviewers criticize the book as being too personal. I find Dr. Grand's personal writing style to be engaging. His passion comes through. His care for his patients does as well. In the books and various videos online he comes across as simultaneously confident, willing to experiment, and humble enough to know that other therapists or researchers will make discoveries that supercede brainspotting.
Perhaps the most valuable part of the book is the chapter with exercises for doing brainspotting by yourself. It requires that you've understood the prior chapters. I think watching some YouTube videos by David Grand can only help to understand the book and the technique.
I would like to see two more things in the book: First, more instruction in how to self-process trauma. However, I understand that could be a dangerous thing without a therapist, too. Perhaps that's why the author didn't provide it. Second, instruction in how to use brainspotting for decision-making. The story the author told about using brainspotting with an author-playwrite to determine if he wanted to direct his own play or not was exciting. I'm left a little frustrated that there was no detail on how to use it for my own decisions, such as those critical ones related to job and family.
Here is an example of how it works from my own life: In the late 1990s, I was walking at night in Houston. A car pulled alongside me. I heard a shout, looked over, and saw a masked man pointing a gun at me from the backseat. I ran. They pursued. The parked cars on the side of the streets provided cover for me to duck and change directions. Dodged, ducked, dipped, dived, and dodged some more for about two blocks. They had two or three clear shots at me during this but never fired. Then they drove off as I made my way toward a main road, shouting.
Even though my body had orchestrated an instinctual flight response that possibly saved my life, this came up in therapy as something to explore. First we looked for a happy memory that had a lot of emotional power for me; I chose the birth of my first son. My eye position as I told this story was up and to the right, and obviously I felt happy and expansive. This becomes a "resource" for the session, something positive to go back to. As I told the story of the gun struggle, my eyes went hard down left to a spot on the floor. I felt threatened and vulnerable. This is the "activation point".
My therapist asked me what my body wanted to do. My body wanted to defend myself instead of run. While holding my eyes on the activation point, I pictured grabbing the gunman and flinging him against the chain link fence behind me while simultaneously disarming him and gaining control of the gun. The activation point changed from being negative (anxious feeling) to positive (satisfied, happy). The memory lost its negative charge and was instead replace with the positive feeling of having successfully fought and defended myself.
What underlies all of this is that the brain and the body are not actually separate entities, as all of our western medicine and psychology have assumed. All in all, a very satisfying read. Highly recommended.
September 15, 2017
Phenomenal therapy
I've been doing brain spotting therapy for two months now and I am finding relief from my childhood trauma. Incredible!
I've been doing brain spotting therapy for two months now and I am finding relief from my childhood trauma. Incredible!
January 7, 2020
I read this hoping to gain a better understanding of brainspotting, as my first experience with it did not go well. I was sorely disappointed at the lack of information actually found in this book about the therapy and how it works. I found it interesting that despite how widespread this is becoming there is absolutely no data in this book supporting any of the theories that brainspotting works, other than anecdotal evidence.
I found most of this to be the author talking himself up as the miraculous ‘inventor’ of this method and how his method is better than any other without any supporting evidence. The author actually says that during one of his trainings he used a colleague to answer neurological questions to ‘shield himself from revealing knowledge gaps’ admitting that he does not have an understanding on how this process works in the brain, yet includes an entire chapter on it.
The number of grammatical and spelling errors were a bit disconcerting as well, entire words were missing from sentences, which made me question the validity of what I was reading, as well as those who published it.
I would not recommend this to anyone, as I am left with more questions than answers as to how this is a viable therapeutic treatment.
I found most of this to be the author talking himself up as the miraculous ‘inventor’ of this method and how his method is better than any other without any supporting evidence. The author actually says that during one of his trainings he used a colleague to answer neurological questions to ‘shield himself from revealing knowledge gaps’ admitting that he does not have an understanding on how this process works in the brain, yet includes an entire chapter on it.
The number of grammatical and spelling errors were a bit disconcerting as well, entire words were missing from sentences, which made me question the validity of what I was reading, as well as those who published it.
I would not recommend this to anyone, as I am left with more questions than answers as to how this is a viable therapeutic treatment.
January 7, 2022
This is quite possibly one of the most dry and egotistical books I’ve ever read. David grand is by no means humble in his writing and his reflections on himself and “brain spotting”. I actually couldn’t even get past chapter 2 and neither could my colleagues. Utter rubbish!
February 23, 2023
This book is anecdotal and unorganized-- although the chapters are short and easy to read, there are many unnecessary details and personal asides. If you attend the Brainspotting training, this book is not necessary to further understand BSP.
April 20, 2024
Fabulous! I think a lot of people dislike this because they leave not knowing how to Brainspot - but that’s not the point. I’m currently in my VERY intensive training to become certified to practice Brainspotting and I have seen these sessions and how they change people. It’s incredible.
Brainspotting is a window into our brain. “Where you look is where you feel”. An INCREDIBLE form of therapy that I will be using all the days of my counseling practice. 👀🧠
Brainspotting is a window into our brain. “Where you look is where you feel”. An INCREDIBLE form of therapy that I will be using all the days of my counseling practice. 👀🧠
July 22, 2023
My therapist really wanted me to try Brainspotting and knows that I like to understand things before engaging in anything. So she challenged me to read this so we could perform some brainspotting in sessions. I was pretty excited going into it, but the book really didn't provide as much insight as I hoped on how Brainspotting works. The book is designed more like a brief autobiography of the author and "discoverer" of Brainspotting, David Grand. I was a bit frustrated that most explanations about the technique were "we don't know how or why it works... but it seems to". There are a handful of examples of the different techniques, but most of the book is focused on Grand, congratulating himself for discovering the technique and convincing readers that he is the next Sigmund Freud or B.F. Skinner.
I try to stay positive, but unfortunately, I think this book failed on all accounts. It failed to be neither interesting nor useful. It provided too little detail about the Brainspotting technique and seems to mostly be a gateway drug into selling seminars, certifications, and courses for the author, in addition to giving himself a pat on the back.
For what its worth, I found EDMR to be more useful than Brainspotting, although Brainspotting is more open-ended. For me, the open-ended nature of it made it harder to gain value and many Brainspotting sessions failed to go anywhere. Essentially Brainspotting is a form of guided meditation with focus on eye movement. It could be useful, but its value is dramatically overblown in my opinion. Sadly, it seems that Brainspotting is good at bringing up repressed trauma, but not great at resolving it. I left most sessions off worse than I started. In the interest of the "do no harm" principle, my therapist decided to move back to working methods like talk therapy and edmr.
I try to stay positive, but unfortunately, I think this book failed on all accounts. It failed to be neither interesting nor useful. It provided too little detail about the Brainspotting technique and seems to mostly be a gateway drug into selling seminars, certifications, and courses for the author, in addition to giving himself a pat on the back.
For what its worth, I found EDMR to be more useful than Brainspotting, although Brainspotting is more open-ended. For me, the open-ended nature of it made it harder to gain value and many Brainspotting sessions failed to go anywhere. Essentially Brainspotting is a form of guided meditation with focus on eye movement. It could be useful, but its value is dramatically overblown in my opinion. Sadly, it seems that Brainspotting is good at bringing up repressed trauma, but not great at resolving it. I left most sessions off worse than I started. In the interest of the "do no harm" principle, my therapist decided to move back to working methods like talk therapy and edmr.
December 29, 2018
Determined to finish this training. For me Brainspotting is a less intrusive and more effective intervention than EMDR, but this is just a personal experience. David Grand breaks down the process giving the clinician the tools to work on helping their clients. This book is instructional and part of the Level 1 package. It helps the clinician understand how to go about doing the intervention, what to look for and how to implement with the client. This isn't as much a self-help work, as you will need a clinician to lead you through. But it does inform on the biological components of why these type of interventions work.
October 10, 2019
After reading the book, I am very much interested in Brainspotting. The theory is interesting and compelling, and I can't wait to suss out some research on it.
As many reviewers noted, the book is repetitive and extremely anecdotal, with only a few clients mentioned. I do think the author was a little too intrigued with Soren, but after what felt like 14 pages of the human-prodigy-of-amazingness Soren was- I kinda am intrigued also.
After watching several interviews of Dr. Grand and seeing him on YouTube, I can definitively say- you could skip the book and just go on a YouTube binge and gather just as much, if not more information then the book.
As many reviewers noted, the book is repetitive and extremely anecdotal, with only a few clients mentioned. I do think the author was a little too intrigued with Soren, but after what felt like 14 pages of the human-prodigy-of-amazingness Soren was- I kinda am intrigued also.
After watching several interviews of Dr. Grand and seeing him on YouTube, I can definitively say- you could skip the book and just go on a YouTube binge and gather just as much, if not more information then the book.
May 9, 2021
Great initial description of how brainspotting works and the ways it can be used. The language in here is more technical and might be challenging for someone who isn’t in the mental health field. The intuitive, client driven nature of brainspotting is hard to capture in writing and makes for a dry read at times.
Read
July 30, 2025I’m not really sure what to rate this? It wasn’t “fun” to read but it was informative and was structured in a way I could comprehend as a non therapist. I really enjoyed the parts that tied in how brainspotting was applied to different patients which included some of their background. The author really just highlights how well it works which makes me skeptical. I’m sure it’s made a positive difference in many people’s lives but I’m sure for some folks it hasn’t worked and I’d be more willing to fully trust all the success stories if there was some acknowledgement that for some cases it doesn’t work and this is why. But hey- if I find it super helpful you better believe I’m going to jump on here and slap a 5 🌟 rating on this bad boy.
February 6, 2025
4.25 ⭐️
This really tickles my brain. I am fascinated and cannot wait to get trained this weekend in brainspotting therapy as well as start my own brainspotting therapy as a client next week!
This book explains how he founded brainspotting and exploring this discovery with clients into developing the different types of brainspotting. I really enjoyed the client stories.
I thought towards the end the were some filler chapters to lengthen the book and some of the writing felt more boastful. But overall this was a great read to get a good understanding of what brainspotting is.
This really tickles my brain. I am fascinated and cannot wait to get trained this weekend in brainspotting therapy as well as start my own brainspotting therapy as a client next week!
This book explains how he founded brainspotting and exploring this discovery with clients into developing the different types of brainspotting. I really enjoyed the client stories.
I thought towards the end the were some filler chapters to lengthen the book and some of the writing felt more boastful. But overall this was a great read to get a good understanding of what brainspotting is.
July 1, 2024
This book, while short, felt like it took forever to finish. I’m aware it was written in 2013/2014 (or around there) but the author talking about his love of Israel and how his father was a “passionate zionist” was really offputting. I will admit, I did learn in this book, but a lot of the information was repeated over and over, to the point I got confused because at times the author seemed to tweak information which then changed the meaning of something earlier defined in the book. His descriptions were also really confusing, such as a hand exercise discussed at the end of the book, and the description about how to find the brainspot that connected to the “body resource” by digging into your brain to feel the connection between this “spot” on your body and the spot in your brain. The author, when given the chance, was very keen on discussing his greatness, and then trying to make himself seem down to Earth. Yes, he discovered brainspotting, which is a wonderful accomplishment, but he often seemed to think of himself as an expert in certain skills and activities that he honestly didn’t seem to have much knowledge on or experience in. I could say more, but honestly this book has exhausted me. I’m glad I finished it, as it was informative and I now understand more of the work I’ll be doing with my therapist, but I hope I never have to read this book again.
September 6, 2019
First I want to say that we have no idea yet what this is. It's simple and magic. Humans are still working it out, and it doesn't much make sense to theorize it. It's just that this very smart man, David Grand, found a door of perception. The situation described in the book a phenomenological, physiological, spiritual thing... the mapping of a field. It's real.
If you wanted to hack it: get a trusted person to hold a pointer at a place in your visual field, and then verbalize all the hardened memories and subconscious beliefs that pour out from that space. Pretty soon people will be doing this in neo-human-potential-woo-woo weekends and they will be making a MESS of themselves as a result. I'm not going to hack it because that feels about as safe as doing psychedelics alone, at random, and then going to work afterwards. Set and setting matter. So, my therapist holds the space and we knock on this door.
Grand found the door handle, and now he's teaching others. For professionals who know EMDR, I've been told you can figure out how to unlock this for people in a weekend workshop. I guess this door into the deep mind was always there. It just took accidents - like the accident that uncovered EMDR in the first place - and a world full of trauma to make us all find it and start to make use of it.
About the title.
BRAINSPOTTING. Really? Because of course the 2019 edgemethod in trauma therapy is going to be named with an Irvine Welsh pun.
I had to think that through. Irvine Welsh was who you read if you were a certain kind of hipster in the fall of 2001. They put it out on display at the Borders next to UCLA. We had a conversation about it at the first party of my PhD grad student cohort. Really good writing about heroin addicts was somehow absorbing in times everyone else was obsessed with Al-Quaeda and George Bush was everywhere, all of the time.
I came through the months after 9/11 as a new student in the UCLA Political Science PhD program, with my fellow students suddenly fascinated in Neo-colonialist theories like "just war" and "democratic peace." David Grand, as he describes in the book, was on the ground in NYC, then and in the years to come. He was working out what worked for those who had seen the towers fall. If trauma creates a field of suffering, it at least gave him a huge amount of material to work with.
Maybe the culture (or the press) revived Trainspotting that fall because it was the right kind of escape-scape from the new hell of the War on Terror. That was also the fall of The Corrections, which so many of us burned through as a way of not watching the news. I feel like in my worlds, hipster fiction was massive in those months, because we needed refuge. We dove in to alternate, pre-9/11 hellscapes.
So I forgive the title. Brainspotting. It's too comedic for a discovery so important. And the historical rationale for this title will be lost. But those who read the book will understand where the method came from, and why. It's for the flashbacks. It's for the self-limiting beliefs. It's for the post-9/11 and post-Nov 2016 hellscape we actually inhabit.
If you wanted to hack it: get a trusted person to hold a pointer at a place in your visual field, and then verbalize all the hardened memories and subconscious beliefs that pour out from that space. Pretty soon people will be doing this in neo-human-potential-woo-woo weekends and they will be making a MESS of themselves as a result. I'm not going to hack it because that feels about as safe as doing psychedelics alone, at random, and then going to work afterwards. Set and setting matter. So, my therapist holds the space and we knock on this door.
Grand found the door handle, and now he's teaching others. For professionals who know EMDR, I've been told you can figure out how to unlock this for people in a weekend workshop. I guess this door into the deep mind was always there. It just took accidents - like the accident that uncovered EMDR in the first place - and a world full of trauma to make us all find it and start to make use of it.
About the title.
BRAINSPOTTING. Really? Because of course the 2019 edgemethod in trauma therapy is going to be named with an Irvine Welsh pun.
I had to think that through. Irvine Welsh was who you read if you were a certain kind of hipster in the fall of 2001. They put it out on display at the Borders next to UCLA. We had a conversation about it at the first party of my PhD grad student cohort. Really good writing about heroin addicts was somehow absorbing in times everyone else was obsessed with Al-Quaeda and George Bush was everywhere, all of the time.
I came through the months after 9/11 as a new student in the UCLA Political Science PhD program, with my fellow students suddenly fascinated in Neo-colonialist theories like "just war" and "democratic peace." David Grand, as he describes in the book, was on the ground in NYC, then and in the years to come. He was working out what worked for those who had seen the towers fall. If trauma creates a field of suffering, it at least gave him a huge amount of material to work with.
Maybe the culture (or the press) revived Trainspotting that fall because it was the right kind of escape-scape from the new hell of the War on Terror. That was also the fall of The Corrections, which so many of us burned through as a way of not watching the news. I feel like in my worlds, hipster fiction was massive in those months, because we needed refuge. We dove in to alternate, pre-9/11 hellscapes.
So I forgive the title. Brainspotting. It's too comedic for a discovery so important. And the historical rationale for this title will be lost. But those who read the book will understand where the method came from, and why. It's for the flashbacks. It's for the self-limiting beliefs. It's for the post-9/11 and post-Nov 2016 hellscape we actually inhabit.
April 10, 2021
[Work in progess]
The book explains the technique of Brainspotting and its discovery. It's the joint and revisited utilization of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Somatic Experience (SE). To them, author adds the observation that to a different position of the eye is linked a different emotional state.
Technique starts with a grounding technique, in which the body part onto which holding our attention gives the strongest calm/rest/safety sensations (Body Resource) is searched and focused to.
Next, issue is activated, by mentally thinking about it, and the eye position in which there's more activation is search and held fixed (a SUDS scale is used for this purpose) .
At this point thoughts, emotions, memories are made flow freely and patient is invited to observe them with "openess and curiosity".
Finally, attention is drawn to Body Resource again.
After some sessions made this way, in moat of the cases, issue is completely addressed and resolved.
Although the topic is interesting and 'catching', exposition presents various issues: there's no data where to base the success rate of the technique, no comparison with placebo effect, nor with some other relaxation technique, it could be easly written in a tenth of the pages..
Plus, some basic questions arose to me which strangely enough were never addressed:
How it can be excluded that the position of head or the body is not relevant, but just the one of eye is?
The activation point is always the same or it changes from one session to the other?
How you can say that it's the position of the eye and not the object it focuses on?
Why when i look around my inner experience and thought seems basically independent from where my eyes look? When my eye position is fixed, thoughts flow, but how you can conclude that there's correlation with position and 'thought's topic'?
The big psychological work seems to be done by the flow-of-consciousness oriented on the traumatic event, then, isn't eye position fixation ultimately just a way to obtain good focus and relaxation?
The book explains the technique of Brainspotting and its discovery. It's the joint and revisited utilization of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Somatic Experience (SE). To them, author adds the observation that to a different position of the eye is linked a different emotional state.
Technique starts with a grounding technique, in which the body part onto which holding our attention gives the strongest calm/rest/safety sensations (Body Resource) is searched and focused to.
Next, issue is activated, by mentally thinking about it, and the eye position in which there's more activation is search and held fixed (a SUDS scale is used for this purpose) .
At this point thoughts, emotions, memories are made flow freely and patient is invited to observe them with "openess and curiosity".
Finally, attention is drawn to Body Resource again.
After some sessions made this way, in moat of the cases, issue is completely addressed and resolved.
Although the topic is interesting and 'catching', exposition presents various issues: there's no data where to base the success rate of the technique, no comparison with placebo effect, nor with some other relaxation technique, it could be easly written in a tenth of the pages..
Plus, some basic questions arose to me which strangely enough were never addressed:
How it can be excluded that the position of head or the body is not relevant, but just the one of eye is?
The activation point is always the same or it changes from one session to the other?
How you can say that it's the position of the eye and not the object it focuses on?
Why when i look around my inner experience and thought seems basically independent from where my eyes look? When my eye position is fixed, thoughts flow, but how you can conclude that there's correlation with position and 'thought's topic'?
The big psychological work seems to be done by the flow-of-consciousness oriented on the traumatic event, then, isn't eye position fixation ultimately just a way to obtain good focus and relaxation?
September 25, 2023
I listened to the audio of this book. I completed phase 1 training in Brainspotting over the summer and found it to be very helpful in my work and also personally as I also had Brainspotting done on me as part of the training. Since being trained I’ve participated in support groups with others so I can continue to expand what I learned in the training. And I realized that while I was given the book to read as part of the training, I hadn’t actually done it.
The book provides very good overview of the development and direction of Brainspotting as a methodology and some of Grants ideas about where he wants it to go in the future. There are a couple of self-Brainspotting exercises you can also follow in the book, but for the most part I don’t think this book replaces training. I found the book to be interesting and I appreciated hearing Grants ideas of how Brainspotting fits in the larger world of therapy interventions.
The book provides very good overview of the development and direction of Brainspotting as a methodology and some of Grants ideas about where he wants it to go in the future. There are a couple of self-Brainspotting exercises you can also follow in the book, but for the most part I don’t think this book replaces training. I found the book to be interesting and I appreciated hearing Grants ideas of how Brainspotting fits in the larger world of therapy interventions.
December 9, 2024
Someone told me about brainspotting therapy, which I had never heard of before, it intrigued me enough to buy this book and learn more. Absolutely fascinating! It is simply amazing how our brain works and how it is tied to our body, and our body to our emotions and trauma, and the way it is designed to process and heal itself.
This book explained the history and discovery and the process of brainspotting, shared patient stories on breakthroughs and real life applications, and laid out the evolution of the process and different methodologies within itself. I was hoping for a little bit more on the "how to do this yourself" section, it wasn't quite what I was hoping for in that regard. I do however have enough understanding on this method, it's background, science, and application to have trust in this process and approach to healing. As well as a greater awe for the design of our brain/body/spirit system.
This book explained the history and discovery and the process of brainspotting, shared patient stories on breakthroughs and real life applications, and laid out the evolution of the process and different methodologies within itself. I was hoping for a little bit more on the "how to do this yourself" section, it wasn't quite what I was hoping for in that regard. I do however have enough understanding on this method, it's background, science, and application to have trust in this process and approach to healing. As well as a greater awe for the design of our brain/body/spirit system.
October 2, 2022
A thorough introduction to the theory and practice of Brainspotting. Written for both clinicians and clients. Brainspotting itself is an amalgamation of various other well-known therapeutic modalities (psychoanalytic, mindfulness, hypnotism, polyvagal, etc.), applied in a unique way to support therapy. In this book, David Grand discusses the application of Brainspotting to improve athletic performance, enhance artistic creativity, and process mental and emotional content. Grand also identifies that Brainspotting is designed to be integrative with other therapies and styles of therapy, allowing for deeper attunement with clients and a foundation for the intuitive practice of therapy by mental health providers.
May 5, 2023
I listened to this via audiobook. This was a great introduction to Brainspotting and was enough to convince me to do a full training to be able to practice it myself in the coming months. The book itself gives examples and various introductions to the basis of the technique, but is not enough to actually utilize it, which I think is completely fair. It’s enough to get a taste of how powerful the technique can be for trauma processing so that you’re sure the $800 training is worth your bucks. I didn’t fully finish the book after around 80% because it felt like it dragged on a bit after I got that main idea but that’s fine with me for a very textbook- like book.
January 22, 2024
The author spends a lot of time recounting his successful patients stories. I would have liked more actual data rather than examples. Every chapter has a few: "Person has crippling anxiety, I used my method and then they were successful at one of their events." The book could have been a PowerPoint presentation with bullet points and a few data charts.
The Brainspotting theory is based on eye therapy known as EMDR, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. Brainspotting uses both the eye movement as well as recognition of physical manifestation of mental distress.
The author is very impressed with himself.
The Brainspotting theory is based on eye therapy known as EMDR, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. Brainspotting uses both the eye movement as well as recognition of physical manifestation of mental distress.
The author is very impressed with himself.
September 21, 2022
An Enlightening Discovery of the Healing Powers within the Brain
This revolutionary discovery of the healing powers within our brains coupled with Vessel Van Der Kolk's work documented in his post book, The Brain Never Forgets, has given psychology new tools that can be sharpened to one day erratic human depression! I hope all colleges give added training to this tool to future therapists for all to employ with CBT and ACT used techniques in teaching humans how to process ACES ( Adverse Childhood Events) and ATEs(teen) and AAEs (Adult).
This revolutionary discovery of the healing powers within our brains coupled with Vessel Van Der Kolk's work documented in his post book, The Brain Never Forgets, has given psychology new tools that can be sharpened to one day erratic human depression! I hope all colleges give added training to this tool to future therapists for all to employ with CBT and ACT used techniques in teaching humans how to process ACES ( Adverse Childhood Events) and ATEs(teen) and AAEs (Adult).
July 13, 2023
Having not tried brainspotting I'm not in a place to assess it. The book presents it as an extremely useful treatment for a wide variety of things from trauma to creativity, one that is potentially faster than other available modalities. It's basically a number of variations on EMDR, eye movements, then connected to body awareness, mindfulness, and audio like binaural beats. The book is extremely repetitive and self-congratulatory but let that not be the judge of the effectiveness of the treatment proposed.
October 20, 2023
I really enjoyed this book. The idea behind Brain Spotting seems so intuitive. The relationship between body, brain and mind is more intertwined than we often give it credit. The physiology and psychology are not able to be treated separately. I hope to use some of the ideas in this book on my own and I hope to be able to find therapists who use these types of approaches for loved ones in need. I listened. The reader was great and the content was totally accessible to someone without any background in psychology. I Highly recommend this book
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November 18, 2024It started with a wobble and pause. Practicing a variant of EMDR, David Grand crossed the visual field of a patient, when her eyes wobbled, then locked – and Grand felt as if his hand was locked in the place where the patient was looking. Thus were the beginnings of what he calls Brainspotting: The Revolutionary New Therapy for Rapid and Effective Change. Conceptually Grand explains that, “Where you look affects how you feel.”
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February 16, 2022
I gave this book 4 stars because of the content (not on the way it's written which is a bit lackluster). My own experience with one session of brainspotting was transformative and I had a hunger to learn more about it. As with many things concerning the human mind, I finished the book realizing there's so much we don't know. But I can say from firsthand experience that this type of therapy can be powerful and wonderful!
July 26, 2019
I wish I could meet him, and I wanna try brainspotting
So I give only 3 stars cuz when I ordered that book I thought bout helping myself, but it didn't help solve my issues but it did educated me bout this technique, and I'll say that it raised the bar pretty high in my choice of a therapist as I feel through is writing that David Grant is a pretty amazing man and therapist
So I give only 3 stars cuz when I ordered that book I thought bout helping myself, but it didn't help solve my issues but it did educated me bout this technique, and I'll say that it raised the bar pretty high in my choice of a therapist as I feel through is writing that David Grant is a pretty amazing man and therapist
March 7, 2020
I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor. This book is part of getting certified in Brainspotting. It is essential for anyone wanting to get certified in Brainspotting. Very informative as to what Brainspotting is and the techniques. Also a good read for clients; however, quite technical and could overwhelm anyone that is not a therapist.
January 27, 2023
My rating is based more on the concept/theory of brain spotting (which is very interesting and I’ve observed this phenomenon before happening upon this subject and book). The author reads like a salesperson and is a bit arrogant and off putting/annoying but an easy read and worth it for understanding the theory.
May 1, 2023
This was an insightful primer to the concept of Brainspotting and its application. At times, the content felt like an attempt to glorify the technique and present it as a therapeutic cure-all, but I respect the author’s recognition that we don’t know what we don’t know, and we still have a lot to explore that might be inspired by Brainspotting.
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