WHAT IS EMDR?
Our body and brain want to engage in a natural healing process. Typically, when we get a cut on our body, we don’t have to think about healing it, our body just does it on its own. When we go through a distressing experience, we often can work through it and learn from experiences. We can do this by thinking about it, talking about it, sleeping on it, journaling about it, going on a walk, etc. and we begin to naturally work through and process it.
However, sometimes we are unable to resolve an issue or trauma on its own and we feel stuck - that’s where EMDR can help. Eye movements or other forms of bilateral/dual attention stimulation (BLS/DAS) activate your brain’s natural problem-solving process, which occurs during REM sleep when your eyes dart back and forth. By focusing on a specific problem and its negative and positive emotions, sensations, and beliefs, then adding BLS/DAS, your brain begins problem-solving. Since you are focused on the specific problem, your brain can work through it more effectively than what may randomly come up during REM sleep. BLS/DAS helps us stay “in the room” and in our bodies while revisiting a distressing event in our mind.
In short, the goals of EMDR are to:
Desensitize distressing and intense emotional experiences
Reprocess distressing and/or traumatic memories into a more adaptive way of thinking
Heal from negative self-beliefs stemming from or related to trauma(s) or distressing life experiences
IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING:
PTSD
Depression
Anxiety, panic, and phobias
Grief
Self-esteem issues
Nearly any issue, big or small, where there are stuck beliefs preventing you from functioning optimally
you may benefit from incorporating EMDR into your therapeutic journey
EMDR sessions
WILL CONSIST OF:
Developing coping skills, grounding techniques, and positive resources
Exploring and mapping neural networks (memories, sensations, and emotions tied together)
Processing and reprocessing distressing experiences, emotions, and sensations*
Tracking distress and negative/positive self-beliefs over time
*The actual processing phase of EMDR with BLS/DAS might feel like sitting on a train and watching a chosen distressing event or experience pass by, or observing the event like a movie on fast forward. We will frequently move through ‘sets’ of and pause, acknowledge where you are in the story, and continue on until your level of distress is reduced.
if you are interested in learning more about if EMDR is right for you or how you can incorporate EMDR into your therapy, fill out a contact form
