Deep Brain Re-Orienting
Finding the Path to Peace: How Deep Brain Reorienting Heals Trauma and Attachment Wounds
When we experience trauma, shock, or early attachment wounds, it can feel like the event gets locked in our nervous system. We might know, logically, that we are safe now, but our bodies and emotions continue to react as if the threat is still present. While traditional talk therapy is valuable, it often can't reach the deep, primal parts of the brain where these survival responses are stored. This is where a gentle, brain-based approach called Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) offers a powerful path to healing.
What is Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR)?
Developed by Dr. Frank Corrigan, DBR is a therapeutic model that works directly with the innate, biological orienting response in the brainstem—our most primitive survival system. When a threat occurs, our brain's first instinct is not to feel emotion, but to orient to what is happening—to look, to locate the source of the danger, and to assess the need to defend or flee. In trauma, this orienting sequence gets interrupted and frozen, leaving the nervous system stuck in a perpetual state of alarm.
DBR gently guides you back to that frozen moment, not to relive the emotional pain, but to complete this blocked biological sequence. By tracking the original eye movements and sensory impulses, DBR allows the brain to process the event at the level it was initially encoded, discharging the trapped survival energy and allowing the nervous system to finally recognize that the danger has passed.
How DBR Heals Attachment Wounding and Shock Trauma
Healing Early Attachment Wounds: For infants and young children, a caregiver's consistent, loving attention is a biological necessity. When this connection is broken through neglect, misattunement, or threat within the caregiving relationship, it creates a deep attachment wound. The child's orienting system is wired to seek the parent's face and eyes for safety. If those eyes are frightening or absent, the orienting response becomes a source of terror itself. DBR carefully accesses these early pre-verbal experiences, allowing the frozen orienting impulse to complete its search for connection in a safe therapeutic space. This can resolve the core sense of abandonment and unsafety, fostering a new, internalized experience of security.
Resolving Shock and Trauma: In a single-incident trauma (like an accident, assault, or sudden loss), the nervous system is overwhelmed in an instant. The orienting response is shocked, often leading to a state of dissociation or freeze. DBR helps by tracing the very first sensory cues of the threat—the sound, the glimpse of movement—that triggered the brainstem's alarm. By following this sequence through at a biological level, without getting bogged down in the story, the procedure allows the frozen "fight-or-flight" energy to release. The brain can then file the memory away as a past event, rather than a present, ongoing threat.
The Path to Recovery
The goal of DBR is not just to manage symptoms, but to facilitate a fundamental rewiring of the trauma response. Clients often report a profound sense of relief, as if a constant background alarm has finally been silenced. The triggers that once caused intense emotional or physical reactions lose their power, and there is a newfound capacity for calm and connection. By addressing the trauma at its source in the deep brain, DBR helps restore your natural resilience, allowing you to move forward in your life, untethered from the past.
If you have tried other therapies but still feel held back by the lingering effects of shock, trauma, or early wounds, Deep Brain Reorienting may be the key to unlocking your nervous system and discovering a deeper, more embodied state of peace.
Disclaimer for your blog: This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical or therapeutic advice. Please consult with a qualified DBR therapist to determine if this approach is right for you.