BEYOND TALK THERAPY: Is Brainspotting Better Than Talk Therapy?
Traditional talk therapy uses the neocortex, higher brain thinking, and is a “top down approach” meaning information is offered to the higher brain to then be utilized in the body and through behavior. Talk therapy is beneficial for validation, normalization, psychoeducation, learning new skills, and gaining insight. Talk therapy can be useful if you are wanting a more solution-focused, short-term approach.
The more I do this work, the more I am convinced that talk therapy is not enough if what we are seeking is true healing. So often the symptoms we struggle with such as stress, anxiety, low mood, dissociation, or sleep issues are a result of nervous system dysregulation. The best way to regulate the nervous system is through subcortical and somatic, body-based interventions. These approaches are considered “bottom up,” working within the deep brain and nervous system to elicit change in higher level thinking and behavior.
We are not able to access the lower parts of the brain, where we hold trauma and stress responses, through talking alone. I practice three interventions that are able to access the lower brainstem, middle emotional brain, and body to metabolize stressor and trauma responses that talk therapy alone cannot:
If you have tried talk therapy for months or years without resolution of symptoms, please reach out. I am currently accepting new individual clients ages 13+ in MN and WI for virtual EMDR and Brainspotting. Coriander Living Collective LLC is here to support your deep healing.
