Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) Therapy

Deep Brain Reorienting available for Arizona & Florida residents

Why Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) Therapy?

How Do EMDR and DBR Compare?

Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) is a promising and powerful new evidence-based therapy created by Dr. Frank Corrigan, a trauma specialist, to focus on the brain’s deeper structures, particularly the brainstem. DBR is gaining traction for its potential to effectively address trauma and a range of other mental health conditions. DBR focuses on the way the deep brain structures process experiences, particularly those that are stressful or traumatic, and it works by facilitating the creation of new neural pathways to reorient the brain's response to triggers.

Deep Brain Reorienting is particularly useful for those who have struggled with traditional therapeutic methods, those who may have hit a plateau in their therapeutic process, or those who have lingering "stuck" points or body reactions. By focusing on the brainstem’s role in trauma, DBR allows for healing that is deeply rooted in the body’s natural processes.

How Does DBR Compare to Other Types of Therapy?

Most traditional therapies involve discussing problems, analyzing the past, or using medication to manage symptoms. While these methods help many people, they often take time and only address the symptoms, failing to address the deeper brain processes linked to mental health and addiction recovery in order to create deep, systemic change.

Deep Brain Reorienting was developed to focus on the brain’s deeper structures, particularly the brainstem. This approach directly engages the brain’s natural healing processes, allowing clients to break free from automatic, negative emotional patterns that drive conditions like anxiety, depression, PTSD, and substance abuse. Unlike traditional methods, DBR promotes long-lasting changes by targeting the brain’s instinctual responses.

What Can I Expect in a DBR Session?

Unlike traditional talk therapy, The DBR process focuses on noticing and responding to your body’s internal cues and sensations. While you may share some aspects of your experience with the therapist, much of the work is done through silent observation of your physiological and emotional states.

During a DBR session, you can expect a process focusing on subtle physiological shifts in your body. Here’s a general outline of what happens:

Finding of the Where Self: Sessions often begin with an anchoring mindfulness exercise to ground you in your present “where self.” This exercise allows you to anchor into your brainstem—the place where we need to be to begin processing.
Guided Exploration: Your therapist will guide you in exploring the sensations, emotions, and memories that arise as you focus on a specific adverse life event or experience. DBR is not about talking through the trauma in a traditional sense but rather about noticing and attending to the body's responses, particularly those rooted in the brainstem.
Reorienting the Brainstem Response: The therapist will work with you to reorient the brainstem’s automatic responses to the difficult experience. This process involves paying attention to the body’s natural sequence of orienting, tension, shock, and affect (emotional response) as they relate to the experience. This allows you to process effectively at the deep brainstem and body level.
Integration: The session will typically conclude with a period of integration, where you’ll work on deepening into the shifts in perspective or changes in awareness that have occurred during DBR the session.

This approach is client-centered, slow and consensual. While it is not always possible to process a whole event in a single session, we will determine a good place to start and end each session. Our goal will be to work systematically through complex trauma and help carefully navigate through dissociative experiences.

To hear Dr. Corrigan explain more about DBR, watch this video.

EMDR and DBR both share a focus on trauma recovery and utilize the brain’s neuroplasticity to foster healing. However, in the comparison of Deep Brain Reorienting vs. EMDR, there are key differences in how each therapy works and the specific brain mechanisms they target.

Focus on Brain Areas:

EMDR: Engages the brain’s information-processing system using bilateral stimulation to help clients reprocess traumatic memories. This method targets the brain’s memory and cognition centers to reduce the emotional intensity of past events.
DBR: Works at a deeper level, focusing on the brainstem where early, instinctive responses to trauma are stored. By targeting these primal, unconscious reactions, DBR is better suited to addressing the automatic stress responses that often underlie mental health conditions like PTSD or anxiety disorders.

Processing of Trauma:

EMDR: Helps clients revisit and reframe specific traumatic memories. This involves processing the distressing memories until they are no longer emotionally triggering, allowing for desensitization and cognitive restructuring.
DBR: Instead of revisiting the specific traumatic event, DBR tracks the physiological sequence of reactions triggered by the trauma, accessing and reorienting the original emotional responses stored in the brainstem. This leads to deep emotional healing without the need to consciously relive painful experiences.

Holistic Healing:

EMDR: Primarily focuses on neutralizing the charge of disturbing experiences, often lessening or eliminating emotional distress clients experience related to their trauma.
DBR: Goes beyond memory processing by integrating body awareness and mindfulness, helping clients reconnect with their bodies. This mind-body connection is crucial for trauma survivors who may have experienced dissociation due to repeated traumatic experiences. DBR’s holistic approach helps clients not only process their trauma but also rebuild a more grounded and stable emotional state.

Both therapies are evidence-based and effective and different people will respond in unique ways to each modality. They are also complementary and if you have a qualified therapist who is well-trained in both modalities, they may use both at different times to help facilitate healing.

Can DBR Be Done in Online Therapy?

Deep Brain Reorienting is well-suited to online sessions where you can be comfortable in your own environment safe in your own space and without any need to travel after the session. The work is very grounded and we go at a pace that is comfortable to you. Our goal is to establish emotional regulation while working through the difficult material your brain already has access to.

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