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Brainspotting Phase 5

Frame set-up guides · August 2026 edition
Brainspotting · Phase 5 Frame Set-Up 1 of 8

Advanced Gazespotting for Existential Trauma

The pivotal moment between everything is ok and everything is desperately not ok. Asking the client to return there almost always induces an instantaneous eye, head, and neck orientation: a powerful Gazespot and a direct neuro-portal into the experience.

1
The client presents a mass or individual traumatic experience
Natural or human-caused. They may have been present at the exact moment and location, or found out about it afterward.
2
Ask for the exact moment when everything went from ok to desperately not ok
SUDs and location of body activation are optional here.
3
Observe the immediate eye, head, and neck orientation
Usually left or right, occasionally up or down.
4
Encourage the client to maintain gaze on the orientation spot
Then observe the focused mindfulness processing that follows.
5
Check in periodically, mindful of the sequential nature of the processing
Note both flashbacks and dissociative gaps. The sequence usually unfolds across the minutes, hours, and days that followed.
6
Periodically guide the client back to the original pivotal moment
Perhaps when processing slows. Check its nature and quality (SUDs and body activation can be checked). Sensory intensity shifts as the brain heals.
7
Process until a squeezed lemon zero or until the close of the session
8
Stay mindful of the client's developmental history throughout
Especially regarding attachment trauma.
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Following Where Your Eyes Want to Go Eye position through head and neck orienting

A fourth way of locating relevant eye positions, alongside Outside Window, Inside Window, and Gazespotting. Particularly user-friendly when working virtually, and it works in person too.

1
Set up the activation as usual
Issue, activation, SUDs, and location of body activation.
2
Ask, "Where do your eyes want to go?"
Or, "Where do your eyes feel magnetized to go?" No pointer needed.
3
Watch whether they orient with the eyes alone or follow with the head
Head and neck swivel appears to complete the eye movement that initiates the orienting response. It does not interfere with locating activation or resource.
4
Let the client hold that position and process
Focused mindfulness, following the tail of the comet.
5
Allow the position to shift if the eyes want to move again
This is an organic shift away from Inside Window pointerspotting. Follow the client.
How this differs from Gazespotting
Gazespotting is spontaneous and usually outside the client's awareness. Here the client consciously finds their own eye position when asked, without outside prompting or a pointer.
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Advanced Partspotting, Part 1 Locating the part through a memory

In Phase 3, Partspotting calls the part into the room. Here we locate the part through a memory or flashback instead: a direct and powerful way to engage parts.

1
The client selects a memory, or one emerges during processing
Pervasive, long-lasting childhood memories are seen as holding parts that can be accessed directly. Processing childhood pictures can enhance this.
2
"Can you see yourself in the memory?"
Observe the Gazespot that ensues.
3
Ask the orienting questions
"How old are you in that memory? How do you look in that memory? How do you feel seeing yourself in that memory?"
4
Determine the eye position for the memory part
Several ways work. With eyes open, the client will often Gazespot as they look at the memory part. For some it helps to ask where they see the memory or part in the room. If the client closes their eyes, they are orienting to the memory part inside, which is fine.
5
Keep it an open process
The emphasis is on the client seeing and connecting with their memory part, not on technique.
6
Process, then close by bringing the part closer to the self
The memory may change and the part may evolve. Finishing this way keeps the part from feeling abandoned again.
Parts hold neuroexperience that may not be readily available to Brainspotting's focused access to the subcortex. The NEM hypothesizes that when a person is in flashback, at least one part is in flashback.
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Working With a Part in Flashback Advanced Partspotting, Part 1 continued

For attendees experienced in working with high levels of dissociation with complex developmental trauma. If the client is powerfully in flashback, finding and working with the part may not be possible until more stabilization is accomplished.
1
Assess the level of the flashback
The level determines how you engage the client in finding the part. With mild to moderate flashback activation, guide the client to find the part in flashback.
2
First question: "Can you see the part?"
3
Second question: "What's happening with this part?"
4
Third question: "Where is the part now?"
5
If the part is in danger, extract it
The adult goes in to rescue and recover the part, bringing them to the here and now. This usually has to be repeated multiple times.
6
Process, then bring the part closer to the self to finish
Processing can go in any direction, but we aim to find our way into the tail of the client's comet. The flashback may change and the part may evolve.
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Double Pointer With Memory Loss From Head Trauma

Two pointers, with the space between them representing the period of memory loss. Also usable with memory loss from trauma-based dissociation.

1
Ask the client the last thing they remember before the memory loss
2
Locate the Inside Window spot where they feel the most access to that memory
This is the "before" spot. Leave the first pointer there.
3
Ask the client the first thing they remember after the memory loss
4
Using a second pointer, locate the Inside Window spot for that after memory
Both pointers now stay in place. The gap between them holds the lost period.
5
Return to the before spot and begin focused mindfulness processing
SUDs and body activation optional.
6
After an attuned period of time, guide the client to the after spot
Continue focused mindfulness processing there.
7
Move gradually and gently between the after and before spots
No rush. Let each side settle before crossing.
8
Finish by very slowly moving the pointer from the before spot to the after spot
Pause whenever any memory retrieval between the two spots is accomplished.
Memory loss from brain injury has long been assumed mostly irretrievable. That belief discounts the role dissociation from the traumatic event played in the loss, and ignores the healing benefits of processing dissociated trauma memories.
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Attachment Eye Contact Spot

A focused Resource Model for clients who are highly vulnerable to dissociating, destabilizing, and flooding. Eye contact can promote repair of attachment wounds, stimulate oxytocin release, help regulate vagal tone, and reduce hypervigilance.

1
Assess whether eye contact is right for this client right now
Use it judiciously with clients in flashback who see the perpetrator's eyes in the therapist's eyes.
2
Establish the eye contact spot: the therapist's eyes
This becomes the Brainspot for the session.
3
Put the duration entirely in the client's choice and control
Some clients need small doses initially, extending as comfort expands. Some choose extended periods that can be challenging for the therapist to maintain.
4
Ask for SUDs and body activation or resource, but only if it feels organic
Skip it if it would break the connection.
5
Hold the frame and process
Eye contact provides a unique frame whose focused mindfulness processing mirrors its sense of connection.
6
Combine with Dosing if the client needs extra grounding and containment
See the Dosing frame set-up on the next page.
A profound breakthrough can occur when the client begins to see the therapist's eyes and face for the first time.
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Dosing

A resource approach for clients easily overwhelmed by looking at a Brainspot. The spot is looked at only for brief periods before the client is guided to look away. Usually used with Inside Window and Gazespotting.

1
Locate the spot, then decide together how long the client will look at it
The decision is shared, not the therapist's alone.
2
Start from a baseline of 5 seconds
Less can be chosen at the client's request.
3
The client looks at the spot while the therapist counts to 5
Count simultaneously with your fingers, visible to the client.
4
At the count, guide the client to look away from the spot
5
Encourage them not to look back until activation comes down to baseline
The pause is as much a part of the work as the looking.
6
Before returning to the spot, decide together how long to look this time
Increase incrementally, for example 5 seconds to 7. Caution is encouraged and ambition should be discouraged.
7
Track the processing throughout
Processing occurs during all aspects of this approach, including the look-away periods.
SUDs can be a limited instrument with these clients: hypoarousal often presents low (2 or 3) and can then spike during processing.
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Advanced Partspotting, Part 2 Locating parts with Gazespotting, Inside Window, and Outside Window

Three routes to an eye position that matches the part's presence, plus ancestral and intrauterine parts.

1
Gazespotting: observe where the client gazes as the part emerges
Gazespotting is ever-present, especially when the client is activated around an issue. If a part emerges on its own, note the simultaneous gaze. If you ask a part to come out, watch the eyes dart to a Gazespot.
2
Inside Window: ask where the client feels the presence of the part
First on the x axis, then on the y axis.
3
Outside Window: scan slowly across the visual field for prominent reflexes
Used when the client feels the presence of a part. The therapist can choose the reflex partspot alone, or engage the client using Outside-Inside Window from Phase 2.
4
Guide the client to hold their gaze on the spot with awareness of the part
Then observe the processing that ensues.
5
When attuned and appropriate, ask an ancestor or ancestral part to emerge
This aligns with many cultures that are aware of the presence of their ancestors, or that honor them.
6
For profound early developmental and attachment trauma, call out an intrauterine part
This can access the time before early traumas began, or address prebirth traumas directly.
Compare with Phase 3
In Phase 3, Partspotting calls the part into the room and observes its location there. The part in its position becomes the partspot. Here, the eye position is found by the same three legs used for any Brainspot.
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