This beautiful book was recently recommended to me – “The Rabbit Listened” by Cori Doerrfeld — I use it in in sessions when we do Brainspotting for emotions. It has been recorded on YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBjAWkog9n0
This children’s book is really appropriate for adults. It touches on what happens when we share emotions with others – some show sympathy, others empathize and exaggerate our feelings, some bring out their “fix-it” parts, and others practice avoidance. It turns out that having someone be attuned to us and support us in sitting with our difficult feelings is what we need the most.
Brainspotting Therapy for Processing Feelings
Brainspotting therapy helps people process feelings that become stuck in their bodies, leading to both physical and mental ailments. During a session of Brainspotting therapy, the brain’s memory of a particular trauma or incident is “reset” in the body and the brain. Our bodies are generally meant to stay in a state of homeostasis, maintaining a balanced, stable, and healthy environment. However, during a traumatic incident, our bodies and brains can get frozen into an unhealthy homeostasis, resulting in an unbalanced and distorted emotional state. Brainspotting helps us accesses this “frozen” area in the brain and work to integrate the interrupted processing of the trauma.
Top-Down (Talk) vs Bottom-Up Therapies
Traditional talk therapy, known as a “top-down” therapy, tries to solve problems with the conscious mind, which resides in the neocortical region of the brain. Brainspotting therapy works “bottom-up” by focusing on the brain-body connection, with the goal of unburdening the physical stress in the body and releasing the emotional stress. The latest neuroscience teaches us that our body responds to the environment first, with the conscious mind or the neocortex being the last to follow, like the caboose on a long train. By processing emotions directly where they “live” – in the body and in the limbic part of the brain, we work bottom-up with Brainspotting, resulting in an efficient and effective treatment.
To learn how Brainspotting works in therapy and how it could help you resolve a specific set of issues, please contact Elaine Korngold and schedule a consultation.