Deep Brain Reorienting - A Neuroscientifically Guided Psychotherapy for Treating Trauma
Presenting Author(s): Dr. Carl Adrian, MD, FRCPC, Dr. Parker DahlCo-Author(s): Carl Adrian
Date and time: 21 Mar 2025 from 14:05 to 15:05
Location: Hawthorn B
Abstract
Deep Brain Reorienting is a trauma psychotherapy created by Dr. Frank Corrigan. It aims to track the original physiological sequence that occurs at the brain stem when the person was first alerted to a threat or attachment disruption. By slowing down and attending to the physiologic sequence, the individual is able to reorient the way the brain responds to trauma and threat.
This workshop will introduce the core concepts of DBR, including the brain stem physiology and the Orienting-Tension-Shock-Affect Sequence. It will review the importance of responses involving the Superior Colliculus, Locus Coeruleus and Periaqueductal Gray regions of the brain stem and midbrain. It will also review adaptations of the therapy that make it particularly useful in complex trauma, allowing clients to process traumatic experiences with a lower risk for dissociating. Case examples of using DBR in practice will be discussed, and participants will have the opportunity to engage in the “Where Self” exercise commonly used in DBR sessions.
Learning Objectives
1. Understanding the brainstem’s physiologic responses to trauma;
2. Reviewing neurobiology of the O-T-(S)-A sequence of responses to traumatic stimuli; and
3. Review clinical examples and responses in the use of DBR in practice.
Literature References
1. Kearney et al (2023) A randomized controlled trial of Deep Brain Reorienting: a neuroscientifically guided treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 14:2, 2240691, DOI: 10.1080/20008066.2023.2240691
2. Corrigan, F. M., & Christie-Sands, J. (2020). An innate brain- stem self-other system involving orienting, affective responding, and polyvalent relational seeking: Some clinical implications for a “Deep Brain Reorienting” trauma psy- chotherapy approach. Medical Hypotheses, 136(109502), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2019.109502
3. Corrigan, F. M., & Hull, A. M. (2015). Recognition of the neurobiological insults imposed by complex trauma and the implications for psychotherapeutic interventions. BJPsych Bulletin, 39(2), 79–86. https://doi.org/10.1192/ pb.bp.114.047134