A 'Newer' Approach to Anxiety Treatment

Brainspotting for Anxiety: How It Works (and What to Expect)

If you live with anxiety, you may already know it’s not “just in your head.” Anxiety can show up as racing thoughts, tightness in your chest, a knot in your stomach, trouble sleeping, irritability, or feeling on edge even when life looks “fine” on the outside.

Brainspotting is a trauma-informed, body-based therapy that can help you work with anxiety at the level where it often lives: in the nervous system. Below, I’ll walk you through what Brainspotting is, how it supports anxiety treatment, and what a session can feel like- so you can decide whether it might be a good fit.

You Can't Think Your Way Out of Anxiety

Anxiety is often your body’s attempt to protect you. Even when there isn’t an immediate danger, your nervous system may stay in a heightened state- scanning for threat, bracing for what could go wrong, or reacting strongly to reminders of past stress.

This is especially common if you’ve experienced:

• chronic stress or burnout

• relational wounds (conflict, betrayal, emotional neglect)

• medical trauma or high-pressure caregiving roles

• a history of panic, overwhelm, or feeling emotionally flooded

When your system is stuck in survival mode, insight alone may not be enough. That’s where somatic (body-based) approaches can help!

What is Brainspotting?

Brainspotting is a therapeutic approach that uses eye position to help access and process what’s held beneath the surface, often outside of conscious awareness. The basic idea is that where you look can connect to how you feel in your body.

In Brainspotting, we gently find a “brainspot” (an eye position) that links to the emotional and physical experience you want to work with. From there, your system is given space to process, without forcing, rushing, or needing to tell every detail of your story.

How Brainspotting Can Help With Anxiety Treatment

Brainspotting can be especially supportive for anxiety because it:

• helps your nervous system settle rather than staying in constant activation

• works with body sensations (tightness, buzzing, nausea, heaviness) that often accompany anxiety

• supports deeper processing of what your system learned it had to brace for

• reduces reactivity over time, so triggers feel less intense or less frequent

• doesn’t require you to relive everything out loud to make progress

What to Expect in a Brainspotting Session

Every therapist has their own style, but here’s a general idea of what you can expect:

1) We start with what’s happening now

You might share what anxiety looks like or feels like for you (e.g., panic, overthinking, people-pleasing, insomnia, dread, perfectionism, or feeling emotionally shut down).

2) We identify a starting point in the body

Instead of only talking about thoughts, we’ll notice what your body is doing: where you feel it, how intense it is, and what it’s like to stay gently connected to it.

3) We find a brainspot

Using a pointer or visual focus, we locate an eye position that connects with the experience. This is collaborative and paced, nothing is forced.

4) You process at your system’s pace

This can look like emotions, memories, images, body shifts, or simply a sense of “something moving.” Sometimes it’s quiet. Sometimes it’s intense. Either way, the goal is safety and integration, not pushing past your window of tolerance.

5) We close with grounding

We end by helping your system come back to the present, so you leave feeling steadier and supported.

Is Brainspotting Right for Your Anxiety?

Brainspotting may be a good fit if:

• you feel anxiety in your body and want a more somatic approach

• you’ve tried “talking it through” but still feel stuck

• you want trauma-informed care that’s gentle and paced

• you want support that’s both relational and nervous-system focused

If you’re not sure, that’s okay! If you're in Colorado and looking for virtual therapy that's trauma-informed and body-based, I'd love to connect. Fill out a contact form and I would be happy to answer any questions you have.