BWRT
Brain Working Recursive Therapy
What is BWRT?
BWRT is a newer form of psychotherapy designed to help with trauma by rewiring the brain's emotional response. It is distinct from other therapies because it intervenes at the preconscious, "reptilian" brain level, before the emotional response to a traumatic memory can fully form. This means clients do not need to relive their trauma in detail during sessions. The therapy takes place in a completely awake, conscious state and does not involve hypnosis or trances.
How does BWRT work?
-
The process of BWRT for trauma and other psychological difficulties can be understood by how it interrupts and overwrites unwanted neural pathways in our brains.
-
According to the theory behind BWRT, our brain decides how to react to a trigger a fraction of a second before we are consciously aware of it. In the case of trauma, this leads to an automatic emotional or physical reaction, that might serve to protect us initially, but which is usually unhelpful in the long run.
-
Through visualisation and redirection, we are guided through a series of structured visualisation exercises designed to identify and interrupt this initial, automatic response.
-
During the intervention, we use our imagination to create a new, desired response to the trigger. This establishes a "recursive loop" in the brain, which overwrites the old, distressing neural pathway with a new one.
-
A key feature of BWRT is that in most cases, we do not need to describe the traumatic event in detail to the therapist. The therapist only needs to know the nature of our problem (e.g., "I feel anxious when I see a spider") and their desired outcome (e.g., "I want to feel calm")