What is Brain Working Recursive Therapy (BWRT)?

The Scientific Bit… the therapy model is inspired by Benjamin Libet’s 1983 discovery that all decisions are made by the brain over a third of a second before awareness. This means we don’t have free will, not an assumption but a scientifically proven fact. While we can change our minds, that decision is made before we’re consciously aware of it. Experiments involving a moving dot on a dial and test subjects reporting its number when lifting their finger have been replicated and never refuted. One study suggested a ten-second brain reaction before awareness, though it couldn’t be fully replicated.

Nothing Spooky

There is nothing mysterious or spooky about this. It’s simpler than the idea that everything in life is ‘pre-ordained’. The brain processes input from the world and our senses, instantly assessing previous experiences for associated responses. This occurs rapidly, below conscious awareness, likely making the subconscious the physical brain process. It doesn’t judge actions; it matches patterns to stimuli, like a computer keyboard. Every key is valid, and value judgments occur later when the typed words appear on the screen. The brain doesn’t care; it activates patterns, like thoughts or motor actions, triggered by similar stimuli.

A stimulus, data input, travels 50 meters of neural pathways in 1/3 of a second before awareness, undergoing thousands of tests for pattern matches. Neurons as small as 1 mm long test the data input up to 1000 times at each end. The brain has around 85 billion neurons.

Every thought arises from the brain’s continual monitoring, triggering a suitable response. For instance, you might say, “What on earth did I say that for?” or “I simply cannot believe I did that!” The reason is simple: the non-reasoning brain beats your conscious mind to the punch! Thoughts are slow and require consideration; the brain has no such restriction, assessing input for registered responses and activating them.

The Therapy

The therapy model is based on the fact that a stimulus travels about 50 meters of neural pathways before being tested at every junction and routed to one of up to 1000 neurons. The therapist’s task is to help the client modify the brain response early in this journey. ‘BWRT®’ enables this by creating a new response pattern to any stimulus, resulting in the desired brain action. It’s content-free, making therapy easier in many situations. Unlike other therapies, ‘BWRT®’ doesn’t require discovering the problem’s cause; it only needs the worst conscious memory of it. This memory is then rendered inactive without the client making any changes to it. The process starts by freezing brain processes so that the same data is present in both brain and awareness. In the ‘normal’ state, the brain is 1/3 second ahead of awareness, which can introduce ideas and resistance to therapy.

The name ‘BWRT®’ comes from the recursive looping process that reinforces the changes made by the client, not the therapist. All registered practitioners have been highly trained to deliver ‘BWRT®’. You can find me on the practitioners listing at http://www.bwrt.org