EMDR: Trauma therapy to heal your past
What is EMDR?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an evidenced based therapy which uses the brain’s own ability to heal itself and overcome difficult memories, unprocessed experiences, and traumatic experiences from the past. When we have a disturbing memory that is unprocessed it often stores itself within our bodies, which when triggered, can bring up the emotions, thoughts, physical sensations, and beliefs that were present at the time of the event. These symptoms of trauma take a big toll on our ability to feel safe, secure, and free to move forward in our lives.
EMDR involves accessing these difficult experiences in a way that unlocks the nervous system so the mind and body can process through it. Through using bilateral sensory stimulation through eye movements or tapping while holding a specific experience in the mind, EMDR aims to alter the way the memory is stored in the brain, thus changing its emotional and psychological effects of the trauma or experience. During this process you are completely in control and its important to remember that your own brain is what is doing the healing.
How can EMDR help?
EMDR relieves symptoms
Over time clients notice that their anxiety, depression, stress responses, and physical sensations of trauma diminish throughout the course of treatment.
In combination with talk therapy, this approach can speed up your healing process and get you to a place of relief. A lot of my clients feel this is a safer and less invasive way to confront the difficult past that may be holding them back.
As an EMDR clinician I will take you through 8 phases of the process to manage your trauma symptoms and evaluate your progress. Through assessment, highlighting your coping skills, accessing memories, and checking in on your feelings of improvement we will undergo a journey together that will feel safe and approachable.
Over the course of treatment these memories that once felt unbearable may be associated with more positive experiences which create corrective change and lessen the impact of the symptoms you are dealing with.
I know it is difficult to sit with the hard stuff. EMDR is a type of therapy that does not make you recite your traumatic experience, it allows you to move through your process in a natural way within the safety of a therapeutic relationship.
This all can sound very confusing, and I’ll be honest, it’s a bit of a weird way to confront the big scary stuff, but I’m happy to talk more about how this process will look and how it can benefit you. Please ask all the questions.