EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing

Many clients find relief within just a few sessions. The belief is that large or small traumas get stuck in your brain and don’t get “filed away” properly. When difficult experiences happen presently you may have a knee-jerk reaction with intense emotions. EMDR addresses those traumas and calms down the reactions and emotions. You don’t forget the experience, but feelings are not so triggered and you regain control of your emotions, thoughts and behaviors.

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When you are very upset, your brain cannot process information as it does ordinarily. One moment becomes “frozen in time,” and remembering a trauma may feel as bad as going through it the first time because the images, sounds, smells, and feelings haven’t changed. Such memories have a lasting negative effect that interferes with the way you see the world and the way you relate to other people.

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Following a successful EMDR session you no longer relive the images, sounds and feelings when the event is brought to mind and normal information processing is resumed. You still remember what happened, but it is less upsetting.

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EMDR appears to be similar to what occurs naturally during dreaming or REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Therefore, EMDR can be thought of as a physiologically-based therapy that helps a person see disturbing material in a new and less distressing way.