What is EMDR?

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR is a well-researched and established therapy that combines imagery, mindfulness, and cognitive techniques to meet the client’s treatment needs. EMDR therapy can be used in many instances and is often used in trauma counseling and in the treatment of anxiety, depression, trauma, or any emotional distress, disturbing events, or memories. The process of doing EMDR usually involves focus on a traumatic disturbing memory while doing back and forth eye movements, listening to alternating tones, and/or feeling alternating vibrations in your hands. This process enables the brain to resolve emotional trauma and gain insight into the circumstance in a way that is often more effective and much quicker than traditional talk therapy with positive benefits that are life lasting.

How it works:

When a disturbing event or trauma happens it can get locked in our nervous system with the original picture, sounds, thoughts and feelings. Eye movements or other bilateral stimulation we use in EMDR seem to unlock the nervous system allows the mind and body to process the experience. That’s what we think happens in REM or dream sleep, the eye movements may help process unconscious material. It’s your own brain that will be doing the healing and you will be in control. Some memories have wrong or negative beliefs and may just be unprocessed and are encoded into maladaptive beliefs. Whatever we have experienced in the past colors our present. Whatever we are experiencing in the present has to link up with memory networks in order to be interpreted and understood. We can challenge those memories and change negative core beliefs by using BLS gets brain to communicate to all areas of the brain and processes it consciously from a healthier, more rational, outside perspective with distance like watching a movie. You decide how you want to feel and we work to change how you think and feel about the situation in a more positive way. The number of sessions required for this form of treatment varies depending on the issues being addressed. If there is a single traumatic incident that is the subject of the EMDR, then it can typically be resolved in five or six sessions, including the intake and preparation. However, for multiple traumas or a long history of past abuse, trauma or neglect, EMDR can take considerably longer for resolution of the issues.

More information on EMDR treatment can be found at:
- emdria.org
- emdr.com