EMDR Therapy
Give Your Mind An Unprecedented Ability to Heal
What is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)?
EMDR is a method of psychotherapy proven to help people that suffer from trauma and other mental stressors like anxiety, depression, PTSD, and more. EMDR is heavily researched and recognized by many respected national and international healthcare organizations as an effective treatment.
EMDR Can Address:
Anxiety, panic attacks, and phobias
Chronic Illness, Pain, and medical issues
Depression and bipolar disorders
Personality disorders
Sleep disturbance
PTSD and other trauma and stress-related issues
Grief and loss
Sexual assault
Substance abuse and addiction
Eating Disorders
How does EMDR work?
EMDR therapy is different than a typical psychotherapy appointment in that it does not require discussing your trauma or current concern in detail. EMDR allows for your brain to naturally heal the trauma vs. actively working on changing thoughts and behaviors. It is designed to process and resolve trauma in the brain.
Our brain goes through a specific process in order to recover from harmful memories or events. Sometimes, the brain can go through this process on its own, however other times, it gets “stuck” in the flight, fight, or freeze stage and needs some help getting past that and on to the actual processing. The EMDR International Association says that “the experience is still remembered, but the fight, flight, or freeze response from the original event is resolved”.
What To Expect
Typically, EMDR sessions will last anywhere from 60-90 minutes. In addition, you and your therapist may find that you may benefit from EMDR as an addition to your typical talk therapy, as adjunctive therapy, or as a standalone treatment.
As with any therapy, you will begin your treatment by explaining the events or memories you’d like to process, and/or things that you would like to work on. Once the processing begins, your therapist will begin sets of side-to-side eye movements, sounds, or taps. You will be guided through the entirety of the session, and slowly you may feel a shift in how you regard the event you are processing. “Attention will be given to a negative image, belief, emotion, and body feeling related to this event, and then to a positive belief that would indicate the issue was resolved” (EMDR International Association).