Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing

EMDR is a very powerful therapy approach to help with anxiety, depression, PTSD, trauma, abuse, neglect and other difficult situations. 

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 today 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 emotions are not so triggered and you regain control of your behaviors.

When a person is very upset, their 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 a person sees the world and the way they relate to other people.

Following a successful EMDR session the person no longer relives the images, sounds and feelings when the event is brought to mind and normal information processing is resumed. The person still remembers what happened, but it is less upsetting.

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.

For more information, take time to review the EMDR website.