In-depth consultation: Deep brain reorienting (DBR) as a potential tool for transforming countertransference reactions in trauma therapists

Objective

To (i) explore whether or not the deep brain reorienting (DBR) method ameliorates countertransference reactions and distress in psychotherapists who provide trauma therapies and (ii) describe specific burdens on psychotherapists, who work with severe traumatization and dissociation.

Methods

All participants in this small, naturalistic study (n = 16) were experienced trauma psychotherapists who were in ongoing consultations. When they raised relational difficulties and/or distress related to their clinical work, they were offered an opportunity to process their reactions with DBR during the consultation hours. The participants’ self-assessed experiences of discomfort before and after DBR processing were measured with the Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS). They also provided verbal and written statements regarding their experiences after DBR intervention.

Results

SUDS ratings/values related to participants’ experiences of discomfort before and after the DBR moment were all lowered (p = 0.00003, binomial calculation). Also lowered after the DBR moment (p = 0.00024, binomial calculation) were ratings related to how disturbing it was for the participants after their clients left their last session – compared to how disturbing the participants thought that it would be when their clients would leave the next session. These subjective ratings were aligned with the participants’ summarized verbal and written statements.

Conclusions

Preliminary results are promising. Potentially, DBR seems to diminish trauma-generated countertransference and related reactions. Use of DBR during consultation must be further researched; interventions for ameliorating countertransference reactions have been requested in contemporary research. New knowledge must be further acquired and implemented in clinical work and consultation/supervision – regarding ways in which traumas affect the brain's functional networks and subcortical regions in those suffering severe traumatization (and vicariously their therapists). Whether or not DBR is a helpful method during consultations (among more inexperienced colleagues) should be investigated.