Co-authored by Lauren Rudolph and Robert Muller, Ph.D.

Imagine an approach to trauma work that follows a subtle symphony of sensations in the face, head, and neck. This is the fascinating world of deep brain reorienting (DBR), an emerging trauma therapy that provides people with a new way to address trauma.

The founder of DBR, Frank Corrigan, a Scottish psychiatrist and author specializing in trauma, first published on DBR in 2020, and has since been training clinicians in this approach.

When someone initially experiences a shocking event, the brain’s first instinct is to move the eyes toward the event, which is done in concert with the brainstem. While this orients the person toward the situation, this part of the brain also activates the muscles of the neck, eyes, and forehead to prepare the head to move. DBR recognizes that the initial way the brain registers the shock of trauma is through the brainstem. Clinicians offering DBR argue that treating this initial shock response in the order that it occurred during the trauma is crucial to healing.

What does the client do during a session? The therapist tells the client to think about a trigger called an “activating stimulus,” either a present trigger or a small part of the........

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