Deep Brain Reorienting
Virtual therapy in California and New York
“Deep Brain Reorienting works at the layer where shock first enters the system, before it becomes story or symptom. That is the layer many of us have longed for therapy to reach, and so often, it hasn’t.”
– Anna Huff, PhD.
What Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) is:
DBR is a trauma therapy developed by psychiatrist Frank Corrigan that works at the level of the brainstem, where shock and attachment wounding first register in the body before they become emotion, story, or symptom. Most therapeutic approaches engage trauma further along in its expression, through cognition, affect, or somatic experience. DBR moves earlier than that, to the orienting tension that arises in the deep brain at the moment something overwhelming happens, and works directly with that layer.
The result is access to material that other modalities can circle without quite reaching: pre-verbal shock, attachment ruptures that formed before the events could be named, and the freeze states that have organized a nervous system from underneath for years or decades. The work is precise, slow, and notably non-abrasive. Many people describe a quality of being held while it unfolds.
What it addresses:
DBR is considered trans-diagnostic, which means it provides support for multiple diagnoses and areas of distress. DBR’s wide applicability means it’s also useful for areas of reactivity (repeated reactivity in relationships, feeling nervous or unsettled at work, longing to find meaning, etc.). It is particularly helpful for early shock (including pre- and peri-natal) and attachment trauma; internal wounding that formed before language, before memory had narrative shape, and before the system had any way of metabolizing what was happening. It can support small or large traumas, as well as dissociative patterns. Where there has been internal fragmentation, DBR tends to bring fluidity. Internal states that have felt walled off from one another begin to communicate again. For those with established meditation or contemplative practice, the work blends unusually well and often deepens what is already there.
What you can expect:
The work begins by orienting to a specific moment of activation, reactivity, or shock, and tracks the subtle tension that arises in the deep brain before emotion or story takes shape. From there, we stay with that layer and let it unfold at its own pace. Nothing is forced, and nothing is rushed.
Over time, the material that has been held at this pre-verbal layer begins to move. Reactivity that once felt automatic (the flare with a partner, the unsettledness at work, the longing without a clear shape, etc.) softens, because the layer underneath it has being metabolized rather than managed. Freeze states begin to thaw. Internal places that have been walled off from one another begin to communicate again, and a quality of fluidity returns.
Many people describe a felt sense of being held during the work, even when the material is difficult. The approach is precise without being abrasive, and the depth it reaches tends to bring a quieter kind of integration than more activating modalities.
To learn more about DBR, check out their main webpage - https://deepbrainreorienting.com/
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