Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR)
and AT-informed Somatic Therapy

 

What is Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR)?

 

Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) is a neuroscience-based therapy developed to treat trauma by accessing and transforming the brain’s response patterns. When a traumatic event occurs, even in early life, the brainstem initiates a survival response that can continue to replay in the nervous system long after the event has passed—especially when something triggers a memory or emotional echo of the trauma. DBR helps by gently revisiting and slowing down this early, automatic sequence, offering the nervous system a chance to transform it, often leading to deep and lasting healing.

 

 

How DBR Works

 

​Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) is a cutting-edge trauma therapy that works by targeting the brain’s earliest responses to shock—before conscious thoughts or emotions arise. Rooted in neuroscience, DBR guides clients to access and notice subtle physical sensations and feelings in their body that reflect deep brain activity, where the trauma response begins. By slowing down this pre-conscious sequence with the support of a trained therapist, DBR allows the nervous system to safely process and release unresolved trauma.

 

This bottom-up approach helps rewire survival patterns such as fight, flight, freeze, or shutdown, without needing to talk through the traumatic event—making it especially effective for PTSD and relationshiip attachment-related wounding. DBR supports deep healing by harnessing the innate healing mechanisms of the brain.

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Incorporating Somatic (body-based) Techniques into DBR for Trauma Healing

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Why Combine DBR with the Alexander Technique (AT)?

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DBR-AT integrates Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) with modified somatic techniques adapted from the Alexander Technique. Developed through collaboration between Martin Warner and Frank Corrigan, this approach is designed to support the release of long-held shock from the nervous system and help clients discharge emotions and physiological responses linked to traumatic experiences.

 

These gentle, body-based interventions enhance the client’s capacity to release muscular holding patterns, which—if left unresolved—can block trauma processing and keep the effects of trauma active in the body and nervous system.

 

All somatic interweaves are guided through verbal instruction between therapist and client, making the method highly accessible for online telehealth sessions.​

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What Can Deep Brain Reorienting Help With?

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DBR can support healing in a wide range of emotional, physical, and relational areas:

• Trauma & PTSD

• Anxiety and chronic stress

• Depression linked to early pain or unresolved trauma

• Somatic symptoms (e.g., tension, chronic pain, medically unexplained symptoms)

• Attachment wounds and relational insecurity

• Emotional numbness or disconnection

• Survival responses: fight, flight, freeze, fawn, shutdown, dissociation

• Emotional dysregulation and reactivity

• Low self-worth 

• Unresolved grief and loss

• Trust, connection, or abandonment issues in relationship.

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What Happens in a DBR Session?

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1. Where-Self

The first step in DBR involves your therapist guiding you to ground yourself in your “where-self”—a felt sense of where you are in space and in your body in the present moment—creating a stable foundation for safely accessing and resolving the trauma response.

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2. Identifying the Target
Your therapist invites you to recall a recent situation that triggered distress or the unwanted symptoms or pattern of reactivity that you want to change, such as hearing a harsh tone of voice. 

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3. Accessing the Orienting Tension
Your therapist helps you notice subtle tension or sessions that appear across your forehead, around your eyes, or at the base of your skull.

 

When we are faced with a threatening situation or person, these muscles are used to pay attention to it – we turn our head and eyes toward the threat, even before any emotion sets in. This marks the beginning of the trauma sequence and becomes the grounding anchor for the session.

 

If the processing starts to feel intense or overwhelming, you can rest your attention back on the sensations here. This technique helps you stay grounded and connected to their body, reducing the risk of emotional flooding and making the process more manageable than many other trauma-focused therapies.

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4. Slowing the Brain's Response

Your therapist helps you to stay attuned to physical sensations and emotions as your brain's sequence unfolds, guiding you to notice changes, including any urges in your body to move. Using a thorough understanding of neurobiology, your therapist guides you to be present with the process in a way that slows down the brain’s underlying response sequence, allowing it to be safely and effectively modified, minimising overwhelm and the intense emotional flooding often associated with trauma work.

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5. New Perspective

As the old response completes, new patterns of regulation and relief can emerge— resulting in a sense of calm, embodiment, and insight.    

 

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The Research and Evidence

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A recent high-quality study tested how effective Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) is for treating PTSD. In the study, 54 people with PTSD were randomly placed into two groups—one group received eight DBR sessions over video calls, while the other group was put on a waitlist and didn’t receive treatment during the study.

Those who received DBR showed major improvements in their PTSD symptoms—nearly half no longer met the criteria for PTSD after the sessions, and even more improved three months later. The waitlist group, by comparison, saw little to no change.

DBR was also regarded as well tolerated. Unlike many trauma therapies where people drop out due to emotional distress, only one person in this study didn’t finish the DBR sessions. This may be because DBR doesn’t require clients to talk through the trauma in detail, making it a gentler and more accessible option for healing.

 

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/20008066.2023.2240691?um

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40098781/

https://cfas.isst-d.org/content/deep-brain-reorienting-dbr-disconnection-pain-and-dissociation%C2%A0?

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306987719309673?via%3Dihub

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Learn More:

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https://deepbrainreorienting.com/history-of-dbr/

https://deepbrainreorienting.com/hypothetical-basis/

https://deepbrainreorienting.com/dbr-theory-videos/​

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