Trauma is pervasive, and thus numerous therapies have been developed to address its distressing symptoms. However, recent estimates suggest up to 50 percent of people with PTSD undergoing psychotherapy still do not respond sufficiently, and up to 25 percent drop out. To address these gaps, we have extensively researched brain adaptations after trauma to inform treatments. Many first-line trauma therapies use cognition—changing our thoughts to change how we feel. But what if how we feel, or what our bodies experience, can change our thoughts and beliefs?

A new therapy may address this—by treating shock at the brainstem level. Shock is the moment of realization during trauma, where our anticipation or prediction of an incoming perception misaligns with the actual incoming sensory input. It’s the "gasp" while falling, or bracing when unable to escape. By addressing shock, we may address a major obstacle in recovery: the sense that a traumatic reaction is "stuck" or "held" in the body and inaccessible to traditional treatments.

This is where Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) comes in. DBR is an emerging trauma treatment developed by Dr. Frank Corrigan, first written about in 2020 and explored in........

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