EMDR Therapy
What is EMDR?
EMDR (eye movement desensitization & reprocessing) is a form of trauma therapy that reprocesses those heavy memories that cause you to feel anxious, defensive, or emotionally reactive. It has been extensively researched and clinically shown to help improve anxiety, depression, OCD, chronic pain, addictions, trauma, and PTSD (Maxfield, 2019).
Sometimes, when you experience a difficult, painful, or traumatic event, your brain is unable to “break down” and store that event safely into long-term memory. As a result, you may experience flashbacks, avoid certain people or places that remind you of an event, or feel as if you’re reliving that memory again in the present.
How Does EMDR Work?
EMDR uses a structured approach and contains less open dialogue as in “traditional” talk therapy. Instead, a client is asked to briefly focus on a traumatic memory while simultaneously following a form of bilateral stimulation (e.g., eye movements, tapping on shoulders). This process, akin to the rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep, helps the brain get “unstuck” and properly store unpleasant memories into long-term memory. Once reprocessed, you can reflect on those events with more closure and less intensity or reactivity.
The EMDR process is divided into stages. During your initial sessions, we review your top goals for therapy as well as identify the pivotal events during your life and how they affected you.
In earlier stages, we take time to develop resources like coping strategies, grounding techniques, and identifying internal strengths.
In later stages, we undergo “formal” reprocessing, incorporating the bilateral stimulation. We focus on each of the target events, one at a time, until they are all resolved.
There is no “set” timeline for completion; we move as fast or slow as you need. This is based on [1] your comfort level throughout the process and your needs along the way. Additionally [2], each brain has its own process to make connections and find resolution. You don’t need to “make sense” of it in the moment. Just allow your brain to do the work.
The Path Forward
You may be wanting to do the “deeper” work, but can feel like there’s something that’s preventing you from doing so. It’s not because you’re incapable or not trying hard enough; sometimes, your brain is actually “stuck.”
Approaches like EMDR can help “unlock” that depth and insight that you’ve been struggling to access on your own.
Your life does not have to be defined or controlled by unfortunate memories. You can experience peace, calm, and the ability to write the next chapters of your life the way you want.
References:
Maxfield, L. (2019). A clinician’s guide to the efficacy of EMDR therapy. Journal of EMDR Practice and Research [Editorial], 13(4), 239-246. Open access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1891/1933-3196.13.4.239
