Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR)® is a trauma psychotherapy
Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR)® is a trauma therapy which aims to access and process traumatic experiences that have given rise to various symptoms and suffering. The treatment traces and maps the original sequence of physiological reactions that occurred when structures in the brain stem were alerted to threat or attachment disruption.
Anna Hallberg
Anna Hallberg is an approved DBR-P/therapist and DBR-C/supervisor.
In the fall of 2022, Anna was the first Swede to be trained in DBR and she has since assisted in several DBR trainings internationally at a distance as well as on site in Sweden, Norway, the UK and Australia in 2025.
The uniqueness of DBR is that it realizes a natural healing process that is consistent with the evolutionary process of brain and nervous system development.
Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR)®
Deep Brain Reorientation was developed by Dr. Frank Corrigan to treat shock after attachment breakdown/injury but is also used to process other unresolved traumatic experiences.
Dr. Frank Corrigan
Dr. Frank Corrigan, MD FRC is a psychiatrist, researcher and author with extensive experience in treating people affected by trauma and attachment disorders.
During a career of more than 30 years as a consultant psychiatrist in the National Health Service in Scotland, Dr. Corrigan combined his clinical experience with research into the neurobiology of trauma and severe mental disorders. The intersection of his research is between affective neuroscience and the science of healing which led to the development of Deep Brain Reorientation.
"We cannot talk about developmental trauma without considering early life shock and the the painful presence of absence"
Dr. Jessica Christie-Sands
DBR Publications
The first study on DBR conducted by Dr. Ruth Lanius' team was published in 2023. The results showed significant symptom improvements in people with PTSD, and after receiving DBR therapy, many participants no longer met the criteria for a PTSD diagnosis.
A randomized controlled trial of Deep Brain Reorienting
Published online August 15 by European Journal of Psychotraumatology. Volume 14, 2023 - Issue 2
The book
Dr. Ruth Lanius on the DBR:
"Given what we now know about the neurobiology of PTSD and how the brain processes shock and traumatic experiences, it's very important that we integrate neuroscientifically-guided therapies into PTSD treatment. DBR is one such treatment.
DBR is a neuroscience-based treatment for PTSD that targets the sequence of events that occurred in the brainstem at the time of the traumatic event.
The sequence of events at the time of the initial shock during a traumatic event occurs through 3 areas of the brain in the brainstem and the midbrain: the superior colliculus, locus coeruleus, and periaqueductal gray."
