If you have read about Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR), you may understand that it is a trauma therapy and still have no idea what you would actually do in a session.
Will you have to tell your entire story? Will you close your eyes? Will the therapist ask you to relive something you have spent years trying not to think about?
Those are reasonable questions. The answer depends in part on you and the therapist you work with. DBR is a particular way of processing traumatic experience; it does not make every client’s session look the same.
In my practice, DBR takes place within a larger therapeutic relationship. We first spend time understanding what brings you to therapy, how you respond to distress, and what you want to change. This typically takes 1-3 sessions before we begin DBR. You can ask about the process before deciding whether you want to try it.
A DBR session begins with a particular moment that has registered as a jolt or shock. It could be a memory, an interaction that recently unsettled you, or a familiar reaction that seems larger than the present situation calls for. It could be as simple as someone really startling you by jumping out and saying “boo!”
You do not have to produce a perfectly organized account of this moment. We need enough context to know what we are approaching, but the work does not depend on telling the story beautifully. I will ask questions that will help to isolate the moment.
For example, you might describe the instant you heard a certain tone in someone’s voice and felt yourself go still. We would begin with that small moment.
The size of the starting point can be surprising. An experience that affects you deeply may be approached through a few seconds that, paradoxically, preceded the event.
Before you begin
If you have read about Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR), you may understand that it is a trauma therapy and still have no idea what you would actually do in a session.
Will you have to tell your entire story? Will you close your eyes? Will the therapist ask you to relive something you have spent years trying not to think about?
Those are reasonable questions. The answer depends in part on you and the therapist you work with. DBR is a particular way of processing traumatic experience; it does not make every client’s session look the same.
In my practice, DBR takes place within a larger therapeutic relationship. We first spend time understanding what brings you to therapy, how you respond to distress, and what you want to change. This typically takes 1-3 sessions before we begin DBR. You can ask about the process before deciding whether you want to try it.
A DBR session begins with a particular moment that has registered as a jolt or shock. It could be a memory, an interaction that recently unsettled you, or a familiar reaction that seems larger than the present situation calls for. It could be as simple as someone really startling you by jumping out and saying “boo!”
You do not have to produce a perfectly organized account of this moment. We need enough context to know what we are approaching, but the work does not depend on telling the story beautifully. Your therapist will ask questions that will help to isolate the moment.
For example, you might describe the instant you heard a certain tone in someone’s voice and felt yourself go still. We would begin with that small moment.
The size of the starting point can be surprising. An experience that affects you deeply may be approached through a few seconds that seem, at first, almost too ordinary to matter. The actual moment may be under one second
DBR pays close attention to the earliest responses that occur when something significant happens. The developer’s description of Deep Brain Reorienting explains the approach as tracking a sequence of physiological responses to threat or a disruption in connection.
In a session, I may invite you to notice subtle changes as you bring the starting moment to mind. You might become aware of tension, an impulse to turn away, a change in your breathing, or a feeling that is only beginning to take shape.
You do not need to know in advance which sensations matter. You can describe what you notice in ordinary language, including “I’m not sure.”
There will be pauses. The pace is slower than a conversation in which we move quickly from a problem to an explanation. The point is to give your experience enough room to unfold without rushing past it.
No. A therapy session should not be a test of how much distress you can tolerate.
At times, trauma work brings up strong feelings. If something feels too intense, confusing, or uncomfortable, you can say so. That information matters to the work. We can pause, talk about what is happening, or reconsider what we are approaching.
Nor do you have to produce a dramatic emotional release for the session to count. Some experiences are quiet. You may notice a small change during the session and understand more about it afterward.
I have often found DBR to be gentler and slower than clients expected trauma therapy to feel. That is an observation from my practice, not a promise about how every session or every person will experience it.
DBR is newer than some established trauma treatments, and its evidence base is still developing. A randomized trial of DBR for PTSD found improvement among participants assigned to eight DBR sessions compared with those placed on a waitlist. The trial was relatively small, and a waitlist comparison does not establish how DBR performs against another active therapy.
A published single-case illustration describes treatment for a person experiencing depersonalization after relational trauma. A case can show what treatment looked like for one person; it cannot tell us what most people should expect.
Research matters. So does the question you bring to the consultation: What might this work be like for me? A therapist should be able to explain the approach, its limits, and how the two of you would decide whether it fits.
We may talk about what you noticed in your body, in the thoughts and feelings that arose, and how those relate to the patterns that brought you to therapy. You may have new questions. You may simply need time to let the experience settle.
DBR is one part of how I work. The DBR experience sits easily within the container of the experiential therapy of Virginia Satir. Often, the best changes occur hours or days after a session ends. The aim is not to have an impressive session. It is to help change become possible in the parts of your life that matter to you seem, at first, almost too ordinary to matter. The actual moment may be under one second.
DBR pays close attention to the earliest responses that occur when something significant happens. The developer’s description of Deep Brain Reorienting explains the approach as tracking a sequence of physiological responses to threat or a disruption in connection.
In a session, I may invite you to notice subtle changes as you bring the starting moment to mind. You might become aware of tension, an impulse to turn away, a change in your breathing, or a feeling that is only beginning to take shape.
You do not need to know in advance which sensations matter. You can describe what you notice in ordinary language, including “I’m not sure.”
There will be pauses. The pace is slower than a conversation in which we move quickly from a problem to an explanation. The point is to give your experience enough room to unfold without rushing past it.
No. A therapy session should not be a test of how much distress you can tolerate.
At times, trauma work brings up strong feelings. If something feels too intense, confusing, or uncomfortable, you can say so. That information matters to the work. We can pause, talk about what is happening, or reconsider what we are approaching.
Nor do you have to produce a dramatic emotional release for the session to count. Some experiences are quiet. You may notice a small change during the session and understand more about it afterward.
I have often found DBR to be gentler and slower than clients expected trauma therapy to feel. That is an observation from my practice, not a promise about how every session or every person will experience it.
DBR is newer than some established trauma treatments, and its evidence base is still developing. A randomized trial of DBR for PTSD found improvement among participants assigned to eight DBR sessions compared with those placed on a waitlist. The trial was relatively small, and a waitlist comparison does not establish how DBR performs against another active therapy.
A published single-case illustration describes treatment for a person experiencing depersonalization after relational trauma. A case can show what treatment looked like for one person; it cannot tell us what most people should expect.
Research matters. So does the question you bring to the consultation: What might this work be like for me? A therapist should be able to explain the approach, its limits, and how the two of you would decide whether it fits.
We may talk about what you noticed in your body, in the thoughts and feelings that arose, and how those relate to the patterns that brought you to therapy. You may have new questions. You may simply need time to let the experience settle.
DBR is one part of how I work. The DBR experience sits easily within the container of the experiential therapy of Virginia Satir. Often, the best changes occur hours or days after a session ends. The aim is not to have an impressive session. It is to help change become possible in the parts of your life that matter to you.
Anne Lindyberg, LMHC (Iowa), LCPC (Illinois), integrates the experiential therapy of Virginia Satir with Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) and the Alexander Technique. She specializes in helping adults with complex and developmental trauma create lasting emotional change through therapy.
This article and other informational content on this website are provided for educational purposes only. They are not a substitute for individualized professional care, do not constitute advice specific to your circumstances, and do not establish a therapist-client relationship.
This work is created on the traditional and unceded lands of Indigenous peoples; a fuller acknowledgment of the land, its history, and its peoples is available on this website.
Deep Brain Reorienting. “Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR)® Is a Trauma Psychotherapy.” https://deepbrainreorienting.com/
“A Randomized Controlled Trial of Deep Brain Reorienting: A Neuroscientifically Guided Treatment for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.” 2023. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37581275/
“Verbal Abuse, Depersonalization, and the Innate Alarm and Defensive Systems: A Single Case Illustration of Treatment With Deep Brain Reorienting.” 2025. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40098781
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