The “Why” of Deep Brain Reorienting
BECAUSE UNPROCESSED SHOCK INHIBITS HEALING
Shock is a physiological and neurochemical process that is always present at the “moment of impact” of trauma or emotional wounding. Unfortunately, it is notoriously difficult to treat, and often acts as a barrier to healing. When the shock of trauma, loss or deep emotional pain is untreated, the injury is unable to heal and the experience remains unprocessed.
Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) is the first therapy to target shock and has been transformational in trauma treatment. DBR aims to access the core of the traumatic experience in a way that tracks the original physiological sequence in the brainstem, the part of the brain that activates in situations of danger or attachment disruption.
DBR is a type of somatic psychotherapy, which is class of therapies that take a nervous-system based approach to treatment. Somatic psychotherapies are rooted in the understanding that the body stores information in many ways, including non-linguistic forms. Where as cognitive and analytical psychotherapy approaches often reveal the narrative that our analytical mind has created, somatic techniques engage and work with felt-sense, directly accessing raw, unadulterated experience. DBR focuses on the way the experiences of shock and horror are stored in parts of the brainstem and uses specific interventions to help the body and brain processes and clear those “muscle memories” so that the trauma can heal.
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