EMDR Therapy
What is EMDR Therapy?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an extensively researched, effective psychotherapy method that can help people recover from trauma and other distressing life experiences, including PTSD, anxiety, depression, and panic disorders.
How is EMDR therapy different from other therapies?
EMDR therapy does not require talking in detail about the distressing issue or
completing homework between sessions. EMDR therapy, rather than focusing on changing the emotions, thoughts, or behaviors resulting from the distressing issue, allows the brain to resume its natural healing process.
EMDR therapy is designed to resolve unprocessed traumatic memories in the brain. For many clients, EMDR therapy can be completed in fewer sessions than other
psychotherapies.
EMDR helps you focus on external bilateral stimulation (eye movements, tapping/pulsators, or tones) while focusing on the original traumatic/painful memory, which disrupts your traumatic associations so that learning, reprocessing, and new associations can take place. As a result, more adaptive processing is then able to occur so that the original experience loses it’s emotional intensity, allowing you to view it more objectively.
How does EMDR therapy affect the brain?
Our brains have a natural way to recover from traumatic memories and events. This process involves communication between the amygdala (the alarm signal for stressful events), the hippocampus (which assists with learning, including memories about safety and danger), and the prefrontal cortex (which analyzes and controls behavior and emotion). While many times traumatic experiences can be managed and resolved spontaneously, they may not be processed without help. EMDR can help the different parts of the brain work together in a more adaptive way, allowing the healing process to resume.
EMDR honors your own innate ability to heal, and often expedites your results which can help you gain a sense of calm, peacefulness, confidence, and strength in the face of trauma that no longer has to control your life.
Some issues I work with:
PTSD and other trauma/stress-related issues
Childhood Abuse and Neglect
Sexual Assault, Violence, Abuse
Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Phobias
Depression and Emotional Dysregulation
Dissociative Disorders
Adjustment to Life Transitions
Self-Esteem
Perfectionism
