Therapists and mental health professionals are always exploring innovative techniques to help clients process and heal from trauma. Two such techniques that have gained traction in the therapeutic world are Brainspotting therapy and hypnosis. Both modalities aim to unlock profound healing by tapping into the subconscious, but how similar are they really?
In this post, we’ll explore the origins and principles of Brainspotting therapy, its overlaps with hypnosis, and how they both support trauma survivors. Plus, we’ll share insights into their differences, benefits, and evidence-backed results. Whether you’re a therapist, a trauma survivor, or someone exploring therapy, you’ll walk away with a deeper understanding of how these two techniques work—and how they can be used to achieve life-changing results.
What is Brainspotting?
Developed in 2003 by psychologist Dr. David Grand, Brainspotting is a cutting-edge therapy designed to target unresolved trauma and emotional pain stored in the brain and body. The foundational idea behind Brainspotting is that where you look affects how you feel. By guiding the client’s gaze to specific “brainspots” (fixed points in their visual field), this technique allows therapists to access and process deeply rooted emotions.
Brainspotting therapy incorporates the brain-body connection, using a non-invasive approach rooted in neuroscience. A Brainspotting therapist helps clients unlock and release trauma by creating safety and finding these reflexive eye positions associated with pain, memories, or emotions.
Brainspotting uses the client’s eyes as access points to the subcortical brain, the part of the brain responsible for emotional and automatic processes. Sound, such as bilateral music, is often used to deepen the experience. Unlike traditional talk therapy, Brainspotting does not rely heavily on verbal communication, making it particularly effective for trauma survivors who may struggle to articulate their pain.
1. Accessing the Subconscious
At their core, both Brainspotting and hypnosis aim to bypass the conscious, analytical mind to reach the subconscious. This is crucial because unresolved emotions, traumatic memories, and limiting beliefs often reside in the subconscious mind, influencing behavior and emotional well-being without our awareness. The subconscious mind is like a vast reservoir of experiences, thoughts, and feelings that shape how we perceive and interact with the world, even if we’re not consciously aware of them. By accessing this hidden layer, both modalities provide an opportunity to uncover and address deeper emotional wounds and patterns that may be obstructing growth and healing.
Brainspotting utilizes a client’s gaze to locate specific “brainspots” connected to subcortical activation. The theory is that certain eye positions relate to unresolved somatic or emotional experiences stored in the brain and body. A therapist guides the client through this process, allowing their eyes to instinctively land on a point that seems to draw emotional or physical resonance. The brainspot acts like a gateway, allowing clients to access subconscious material without necessarily using words. Once accessed, the therapist holds space for the client as the brain’s natural neurobiological ability to process and release trauma comes into play. This approach often bypasses the need to analyze events cognitively, offering a somatic and deep-seated release that is beyond the realm of traditional verbal therapy.
Similarly, hypnosis provides a direct entry point to the subconscious mind, often through deep relaxation and focused attention. Hypnotherapists create a state of heightened suggestibility, during which clients are guided to explore inner thoughts, memories, or emotions. This state allows them to bypass the conscious mind’s potential resistance or defenses, uncovering the core of an issue that may have been shielded by rationalization or denial. Techniques such as guided imagery, suggestion, and metaphor are employed to help clients process and reframe their experiences. For instance, a hypnotherapist might guide a client to revisit a traumatic memory, not for the purpose of reliving it, but to reshape its emotional impact and release its hold on the client’s subconscious.
Both Brainspotting and hypnosis share a common goal of accessing the subconscious as a pathway to transformation. While Brainspotting is grounded firmly in the sensory and somatic response mechanisms of the brain, hypnosis leverages the pliability of the subconscious through suggestion and imagery. Despite their methodological differences, both approaches tackle the deeply ingrained emotional and mental patterns that often hold individuals back. By addressing these hidden layers, clients can achieve profound insights, emotional clearance, and, ultimately, healing.
2. Altered State of Awareness
Both Brainspotting and hypnosis rely on creating an altered state of awareness in the client, a state that is instrumental for facilitating deep introspection and emotional processing. This altered awareness is characterized by a trance-like or focused state where the client’s usual level of consciousness is temporarily shifted, allowing for deeper access to the subconscious and the body’s innate ability to heal itself.
During a Brainspotting session, clients often find themselves profoundly connected to their internal sensations. The process of identifying and maintaining focus on a “brainspot” – a fixed point in the visual field correlating with emotional activation – intensifies this connection. This focused state enables the body to engage in deep self-processing, facilitating the emergence and resolution of deeply seated emotions and memories without conscious interference.
Hypnosis, on the other hand, cultivates a traditional trance state through techniques such as guided visualization, progressive relaxation, or suggestion. Once in this deeply relaxed state, the mind becomes pliable and more open to therapeutic guidance or reframing of negative beliefs. The hypnotic trance allows clients to access thoughts and emotions that would otherwise remain out of reach, fostering profound clarity and insight.
Despite the differences in approach, both modalities use these altered states as a mechanism to bypass the critical, analytical mind. The outcome is a powerful space where clients can explore, process, and release unresolved experiences, paving the way for meaningful emotional breakthroughs and healing.
3. Use of Focused Attention
Attention plays a crucial role in both Brainspotting and hypnosis, serving as a shared foundation for their therapeutic effectiveness. Each modality employs specific methods to direct and sustain the client’s focus, enabling a deeper engagement with their emotions, memories, and internal processes.
Brainspotting anchors the client’s attention through the use of “brainspots,” or specific fixed eye positions. These brainspots are intricately linked to emotional or physical triggers, creating a direct pathway to the stored trauma or unresolved experiences within the brain. Clients are encouraged to maintain their gaze on these points while paying close attention to their internal sensations. This sustained focus allows the brain and body to work in harmony, processing and releasing the underlying emotional charge associated with the identified issue.
Hypnosis, meanwhile, frequently utilizes guided focus on a specific element, such as a soothing voice, a mental image, or even a physical object like the classic swinging pocket watch. The purpose of this directed attention is to quiet the conscious mind and reduce external distractions, ultimately helping clients access the deeper layers of their subconscious. By narrowing their focus, clients enter a receptive state where they can vividly explore underlying thought patterns and engage with new, constructive suggestions offered by the therapist.
Both Brainspotting and hypnosis leverage the power of focused attention to create a state of mental clarity and receptivity. This mindful concentration not only reduces mental “noise” but also deepens the therapeutic process, enabling clients to confront and resolve the emotional wounds that may be holding them back. Through this mechanism of focus, clients are empowered to tap into their innate ability to heal and move forward with renewed emotional well-being.
4. Facilitation by a Trained Practitioner
Both Brainspotting and hypnosis are therapeutic approaches that heavily depend on the expertise of a well-trained practitioner. Whether guided by a Brainspotting therapist or a hypnotherapist, the practitioner’s role is crucial in creating a safe and supportive environment for the client. This setting is essential, especially for individuals dealing with psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as it ensures they have a space to feel secure while navigating their emotions.
A skilled practitioner not only guides clients through the therapeutic process but also helps them access difficult memories or deeply rooted emotions that may be contributing to their struggles with psychiatric disorders. The process often involves addressing underlying emotional pain and unresolved trauma that might exacerbate these mental health challenges. The therapist acts as a supportive anchor, ensuring the client feels both grounded and understood, even when confronting intense or overwhelming experiences.
The practitioner’s ability to tailor the therapy to the specific needs of the client is critical, as every individual’s experience with psychiatric disorders varies significantly. By recognizing unique triggers and emotional patterns, the therapist can adjust the technique to facilitate optimal healing. The practitioner’s expertise also extends to understanding body language, emotional cues, and cognitive shifts, allowing them to effectively guide the client to deeper levels of clarity and resolution.
Ultimately, the success of both Brainspotting and hypnosis in addressing psychiatric disorders often hinges on the practitioner’s skill, empathy, and ability to foster trust. Their role is not passive but highly dynamic, as they help clients unlock the potential of their subconscious mind and innate healing responses. This alignment between the client and the therapist can dramatically enhance the therapeutic outcomes, paving the way for improved emotional well-being and overall mental health.
5. Processing Trauma
One of the primary uses of both Brainspotting and hypnosis is trauma healing. Trauma often becomes “frozen” within the body and subconscious mind, influencing mental and physical health in profound and sometimes debilitating ways. When unresolved, this stored trauma can lead to emotional dysregulation, chronic stress responses, and even physical ailments such as headaches or muscle tension. Both Brainspotting and hypnosis provide unique approaches to reprocessing these painful, distressing experiences in ways that reduce their emotional intensity and facilitate healing.
Brainspotting focuses on accessing the brain’s deeper regions, targeting areas that hold unresolved trauma. A specific “brainspot,” often identified through the client’s visual focus or sensory feedback, connects directly to the traumatic memory stored in the brain and body. By holding this focus while in a safe, supportive therapeutic space, the client can process the traumatic event without becoming overwhelmed. This process can lead to profound emotional release, helping the client shed the trauma’s lingering effects and enabling them to move forward with a renewed sense of emotional clarity and peace.
Similarly, hypnosis offers a guided pathway to revisiting and reframing traumatic memories in a safe and controlled manner. Through a relaxed trance state, the therapist can help the client access the subconscious, where trauma is often locked away. This altered state of awareness allows the client to confront painful memories while maintaining emotional safety. The therapist might guide them through reframing exercises, where the traumatic memory is reinterpreted or associated with more positive, empowering emotions. Together, these methods give clients the tools to reintegrate these experiences into their lives without the emotional charge they once carried, fostering resilience and well-being.
6. Reliance on Internal Resources
Both Brainspotting and hypnosis emphasize the client’s natural capacity for healing, drawing upon their internal resources to facilitate transformation. These methods are not about providing external solutions but empowering individuals to reconnect with their inherent ability to heal, grow, and adapt. The therapeutic process becomes one of collaboration, where the client’s internal strengths are acknowledged and amplified.
Brainspotting operates on the premise that the brain has a built-in capacity to reprocess and resolve emotional pain when given the right conditions. By locating and focusing on brainspots associated with unresolved issues, clients activate their brain’s natural self-healing mechanisms. This approach allows the client to take an active role in their healing process, trusting in their body and brain’s ability to move through discomfort and ultimately achieve emotional relief. Over time, this engagement with the brain’s intrinsic healing power builds resilience and a deeper understanding of one’s emotional landscape.
Hypnosis, on the other hand, leans on the mind’s heightened state of suggestibility to encourage positive change. Under hypnosis, the therapist guides clients into states where their internal resources become more accessible. This might involve uncovering forgotten strengths, reinforcing self-belief, or planting empowering suggestions to transform limiting behaviors or beliefs. The process showcases the mind’s capacity to rewire itself and create new, healthier patterns of thought and behavior. Rather than relying on external interventions, hypnosis fosters a sense of self-reliance and promotes trust in one’s own ability to thrive.
By prioritizing and leveraging the client’s internal resources, both Brainspotting and hypnosis help clients develop a sense of empowerment. They facilitate not just the resolution of immediate issues but also the growth of lasting resilience, enabling individuals to face future challenges with confidence and strength.
7. Non-Verbal Elements
While both Brainspotting and hypnosis may involve verbal interaction as part of the process, they uniquely emphasize non-verbal processing to facilitate transformation. This focus on the subtle, instinctive, and often unconscious elements of human experience allows these modalities to reach areas of the mind and body that are less accessible through traditional, language-centered approaches.
In Brainspotting, much of the process is rooted in the client’s attunement to their internal sensations. Clients are guided to identify a “brainspot”—a fixed eye position that correlates to unresolved trauma or emotional distress. Once this brainspot is located, the healing process often centers on the client’s awareness of bodily sensations, such as tightness, warmth, or tension, rather than relying on verbal expression. This introspective, non-verbal engagement fosters a profound connection between the mind and body, enabling clients to process and release deeply embedded emotions without the need for overt articulation.
Similarly, hypnosis allows clients to bypass the analytical, conscious part of the mind and engage with deeper, subconscious levels of awareness. Through imagery, metaphor, and suggestion, hypnosis creates a space for change that feels intuitive rather than effortful. Clients might imagine themselves in serene or empowering environments, tapping into emotions and insights that are not confined by verbal logic. This inward focus on sensations, feelings, and visualizations allows for profound shifts, facilitating a release of limiting beliefs or emotional blocks.
By prioritizing non-verbal elements, both methods enable clients to access parts of the self that are beyond language, such as raw emotions and ingrained patterns of thought or behavior. This approach often resonates deeply with individuals who struggle to articulate their experiences or who feel emotionally “stuck” despite traditional therapeutic interventions. Ultimately, the non-verbal nature of these modalities provides a powerful avenue for connecting with the innate wisdom of the body and subconscious mind, helping clients achieve deep, lasting transformation.
8. Heightened Suggestibility or Receptivity
Hypnosis is renowned for its ability to increase suggestibility, making it possible for individuals to adopt new perspectives, beliefs, or behaviors with greater ease. By guiding the mind into a relaxed state of focus, hypnosis bypasses critical thinking barriers and allows suggestions to penetrate deeper layers of consciousness. This process is particularly effective for addressing issues such as anxiety, habits, or self-esteem, leading to lasting changes that can unquestionably help boost your mood. The power of suggestion combined with the natural receptivity of the subconscious mind creates fertile ground for transformation and growth.
Similarly, Brainspotting taps into the brain’s intrinsic responsiveness by identifying and targeting specific “spots” in the visual field that correlate with emotional or physical reactions. By focusing on these points, Brainspotting works to amplify the brain’s processing abilities, unlocking stored memories, emotions, or blockages and opening the door to healing. This heightened responsiveness often results in spontaneous insights and emotional shifts, enabling clients to gain new clarity and self-understanding. The resulting changes in perception and emotional states play a critical role in improving one’s overall well-being, significantly enhancing mental and emotional resilience.
While the methods of hypnosis and Brainspotting are distinct, both share the crucial ability to create an environment in which the individual’s mind and body are more open to transformation. Whether through the suggestibility brought by hypnosis or the neural activation facilitated by Brainspotting, clients often experience breakthroughs that contribute to emotional stability and positive outlooks. By integrating these modalities into personal healing journeys, individuals can unlock their potential for change and ultimately boost their mood, paving the way for a more fulfilling and balanced life.
9. Regulation of the Nervous System
Brainspotting and hypnosis are both powerful tools for regulating the autonomic nervous system, which controls many of the body’s unconscious processes. These modalities create an environment where the body can shift from a state of hyperarousal—commonly associated with the fight-or-flight response caused by trauma—to a state of relaxation and safety. This regulation occurs as the techniques help quiet the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for stress responses, while activating the parasympathetic nervous system that promotes calmness and restorative processes.
For individuals dealing with trauma or chronic stress, this ability to downregulate the nervous system is particularly significant. By shifting their physiological state into one where healing and reflection are more accessible, clients are better able to process difficult emotions and memories. This calming effect not only supports emotional safety during the therapeutic session but also has lasting benefits beyond it. Many clients report feeling more grounded, centered, and emotionally regulated after sessions of either Brainspotting or hypnosis. Additionally, consistent regulation of the nervous system over time helps to build resilience, leading to improved coping mechanisms and greater control over stress responses in daily life.
Ultimately, this balance within the nervous system is crucial for overall well-being. When an individual is no longer trapped in a cycle of stress reactivity, they experience relief not only emotionally but physically as well. By fostering these states of groundedness and relaxation, Brainspotting and hypnosis can help clients rediscover their sense of security and inner peace, creating a profound foundation for long-term healing and personal growth.
10. Visualization and Imagery
Visualization and imagery form the cornerstones of both hypnosis and Brainspotting, though they manifest differently in these approaches. Hypnosis often uses guided imagery—where the therapist leads the client through vivid mental scenarios—to evoke specific feelings, elicit memories, or inspire shifts in behavior. For example, a client undergoing hypnosis might be guided to imagine a serene and safe environment, like a tranquil beach or woodland, to establish a sense of comfort and openness. This visualization serves as a tool for emotional regulation, empowering the client to confront challenges or traumatic experiences with greater composure and confidence.
On the other hand, Brainspotting does not rely on intentionally crafted imagery but allows spontaneous mental pictures and ideas to arise naturally during the process. When a client focuses on a specific “brainspot,” their brain may unveil unexpected memories, sensations, or visual symbols tied to emotional experiences. These spontaneous images are unique to the individual’s subconscious and often contain meaningful insights that are essential to their healing. For instance, a client might suddenly visualize a powerful scene from their past tied to unresolved emotions, or they may see symbolic imagery that provides clarity about their current emotional state.
Both methods leverage the brain’s inherent creativity and its capacity to associate visual elements with deep, often buried emotions. Whether it’s a carefully curated visualization during hypnosis or an organic, unfiltered image during Brainspotting, these mental pictures act as bridges between the conscious and subconscious mind. They allow clients to access complex emotions in a tangible form, facilitating deeper understanding and emotional release. This connection between imagery and emotional processing highlights how both techniques empower individuals to explore their inner world, ultimately enabling personal growth and therapeutic breakthroughs.
11. Potential for Rapid Change
Lastly, both Brainspotting therapy and hypnosis have the potential to produce significant breakthroughs in a relatively short time. Brainspotting therapy, in particular, is designed to target deep, unresolved emotional and psychological issues by accessing the brain’s natural ability to process and heal trauma. Clients often find that this approach bypasses the need for prolonged discussion or analysis, enabling them to reach the core of their challenges more quickly than traditional talk therapy.
One of the unique aspects of Brainspotting therapy is its focus on identifying a “brainspot”—a specific eye position linked to the body’s stored trauma or emotional distress. Once this spot is identified, the therapist guides the client to remain focused on that point, allowing the brain to process and release the associated emotions naturally. This technique not only accelerates healing but also creates an environment where profound emotional clarity can emerge within just a few sessions. For many, this rapid progress can feel groundbreaking, as they discover and resolve emotions or memories they may not even have been consciously aware of.
Additionally, Brainspotting therapy is particularly effective for individuals who feel “stuck” or have struggled to achieve breakthroughs using other therapeutic methods. It provides a powerful, efficient tool for addressing issues ranging from anxiety and depression to trauma and performance blocks. The capacity for rapid change is what makes Brainspotting therapy so appealing, especially to those who are seeking results without prolonged commitment to therapy sessions. This swift yet impactful approach highlights why Brainspotting therapy is increasingly recognized as a highly effective intervention in mental health care.
Unlocking the Mind’s Healing Potential
While Brainspotting and hypnosis differ in their specifics—Brainspotting is rooted in brain-based somatic processing, while hypnosis leans on suggestion and imagination—their similarities highlight their shared ability to facilitate profound healing. Both techniques nurture the mind’s innate healing ability, unlocking the potential to reprocess trauma, shift unhelpful patterns, and build emotional resilience.
If you’re a therapist or mental health professional, consider exploring how these modalities could complement your existing practice. And if you’re a therapy client or trauma survivor, consult with a qualified practitioner to discover whether Brainspotting or hypnosis might be right for you. Would you like to experience the power of Brainspotting therapy? Work with an expert Brainspotting therapist to start your healing journey today.
