Deep Brain Reorienting™

I am currently training in this new psychotherapeutic approach developed by Dr Frank Corrigan, a psychiatrist in Scotland. I used to work for Frank when I was a junior doctor – many years ago! He is a true expert in the field of trauma therapy and one of the most compassionate humans I know.

With a strong research background that explores the intersection between neuroscience and the science of healing, he has published many papers. He has co-authored several books including the Neurobiology and Treatment of Traumatic Dissociation, and the Comprehensive Resource Method.

In a DBR session the client and therapist track, or follow, a distinctive neurophysiological sequence of sensations, emotions and movement impulses arising from the deep brain regions involved in trauma responses. DBR accesses and embodies a natural healing process that is understandable in the context of the evolution of the brain and nervous system, and also of the developmental stages of the infant and child.

In therapy it can be very difficult for clients to work with a distressing experience, either because the mind naturally wants to turn away from overwhelming emotions and memories, or because the nature of the experience has created a tendency to dissociate. People often find a DBR session to be more gentle and less distressing than some other psychotherapy approaches, while for those who have a tendency to dissociate, the particular steps we use help people to stay more present, so that the neurological traces of the past experience can resolve.

At the start of a DBR session, we identify the issue you would like to work with. It could be a difficult past experience, a recurring pattern of distress in your life, or even a pervasive feeling of unease. We use a small part of the memory, for example an initial feeling that something was not right, rather than going into the most difficult part of the memory. This helps the client to access the orienting response in which the attention turns towards the event at a level in the centre of the brain. From here the resulting responses in the deep structures of the brain come to awareness as sensations and emotions, rather than as thoughts and memories.

At the end of a session the client may often have a more positive perspective on life, or over the following days may notice a shift in how they feel overall. However, like all forms of therapy, DBR may not work for everyone. At times the shift away from old familiar patterns can be unsettling, but this usually clears as the new perspective settles in, and the higher cognitive parts of the brain adjust to the changes that have occurred deep down.

Recent research into DBR by Ruth Lanius and her team in Toronto, show impressive results. The study looked at people diagnosed with PTSD who received 8 sessions of DBR. By the end of the study their symptoms were significantly reduced, and nearly half of them no longer met the criteria for a diagnosis of PTSD. More research is being done, and the results are awaited with interest.