EMDR
What is EMDR therapy?
The EMDR in EMDR therapy stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. The name for this therapy is BIG, but it works.
EMDR helps people heal from trauma, defined as anything that overwhelms the brain’s ability to cope. When our experiences are too much for our brain to process, our memories get stuck.
Based on extensive research, EMDR has proven effective for the treatment of trauma and PTSD.
Here are some types of trauma.
Obvious trauma results from war, sexual assault, rape, natural disasters, car crash, being physically beaten, etc.
There are other causes of trauma. For example, growing up in a home where the adults in your life yelled and called you names or having a parent who provided for you financially but was not emotionally available can cause trauma.
Growing up feeling like you were the adult in your home, not wanting to cause trouble for your parents, or having a childhood where you felt constantly put down, or where acceptance from your parents only came through achievement or being bullied or made fun of at school are traumatic experiences.
Sometimes trauma results from one event such as…
…Losing a parent or a significant parental figure when you were a child.
What may seem to be ‘just a bad day,’ like being teased for having acne as a teenager or not being capable of reading a paragraph in a book in front of the entire class, can leave unhealed emotions.
Your mom or dad telling you that you would never amount to anything stays with you into adulthood.
Or trauma may result from many minor events that together form a negative view of yourself…
How does trauma reveal itself in your life now?
Reactions that seem ‘normal’ to you hold you back from achieving what you want in life.
You may have difficulty trusting others or yourself.
There may be problems with intimacy, relationships, and love.
Saying no is hard for you, or you want others to like or approve of you.
You are a perfectionist, never entirely satisfied with your performance.
You have trouble communicating and expressing feelings assertively or feel uncomfortable with physical touch.
You have low self-esteem or a negative view of yourself.
How does EMDR therapy work?
EMDR has several phases. The beginning phase focuses on building a solid relationship with your therapist. Establishing this relationship is a crucial part as you need to feel safe and trust your therapist.
Part of this phase involves learning and practicing grounding and mindfulness (what I like to call focus skills). In addition, this phase helps manage uncomfortable thoughts, sensations, or feelings that may occur between sessions.
When you are ready for the reprocessing phase, the therapist will ask you to focus on the specific event causing distress. While bringing the memory forward, you concentrate on bilateral stimulation such as eye moments, holding a tapper (vibrating object) in each hand, or tapping.
Through reprocessing, those negative thoughts, feelings, and sensations become significantly reduced or eliminated.
EMDR enables your brain’s natural healing process.
Your brain wants to heal. Therefore, it has an inherent ability to process and integrate traumatic information incorrectly processed initially.
Through EMDR, you can uproot negative beliefs about yourself, which contribute to anxious feelings, depression, and difficulty in relationships. You may lack in self-confidence – so much that you fear conflict.
EMDR has been proven to be much more effective than traditional talk therapy – and yes, the results are permanent!
The result is FREEDOM and SELF-TRANSFORMATION – the enduring kind.
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