EMDR, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, is a highly effective treatment that helps individuals heal from suffering such as PTSD, anxiety, panic attacks, depression, phobias, grief, death, physical injury, abuse, and more. When something painful, un-expected or out of our control happens in our lives we may experience trauma.
Trauma comes in all shapes and forms and often times it is a struggle to find a way to move forward. If you find yourself feeling emotionally charged and have a hard time managing feelings, EMDR may be beneficial.
When something traumatic happens, your mind may continue to hold onto the troubling memories, sounds, feelings, sensations, or thoughts. It may feel like the trauma is locked or stuck inside. These memories can be triggered by different situations that you encounter in your daily life.
At times, you may feel helpless because you are not able to control what is happening in your mind or your body; this is because you are re-experiencing the emotions and sensations that are connected with the original trauma. EMDR helps to reprocess the trauma so that the negative thoughts and feelings are reduced. It is a highly effective treatment when the right client is with the right therapist. Sometimes EMDR isn’t the best option, and we will evaluate to ensure the best treatment options for you.
How does EMDR Therapy Help?
Before beginning EMDR, it is important that there is an established and trusting relationship with your therapist. We help prepare you by teaching you skills and techniques so that you learn how to contain disturbing thoughts and find ways that help you feel safe. EMDR helps facilitate the activation of the brain’s inherent ability to process and integrate traumatic information that became frozen. This happens through bilateral stimulation, which similar to REM sleep, helps the right and left hemispheres of the brain to process and integrate the difficult experiences.