What is EMDR?
EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) is an evidenced based, 8 phase trauma treatment therapy that helps people process, integrate, and heal from traumatic events, life-disturbing experiences, fears, or general distressing thoughts or feelings. EMDR therapy is a somatic treatment modality that utilizes your body’s incredible, natural processing system to release emotions, memories and energy that has been trapped in the mind and nervous system.
By activating the brain’s inherent system to process and integrate stored or stuck information, EMDR therapy helps remove the distressing emotional charge from an experience. This will not erase the memory; instead, the process will allow the client to decrease triggers related to an event and help build resiliency.
EMDR therapy involves the use of eye movements or other forms of rhythmic, bilateral (left-right) stimulation, such as tapping or audio tones, to help the brain process and integrate traumatic memories.
The therapist will guide you through the process of helping to access the memory in your body, and then activate your nervous system with the bilateral stimulation to allow the stuck emotions, sensations, memories or thoughts to move through your system naturally and effectively.
The benefits of EMDR have been scientifically shown to continue to increase over time as your body continues to integrate the experience and has been shown to have long term success.
Emotional, physical, and/or sexual abuse
Grief and loss
Chronic pain
Addictive behaviors
Flashbacks and nightmares
EMDR is successful in treating:
PTSD & complex PTSD
Anxiety
Panic attacks
Depression
Phobias
We also offer 4-hour EMDR intensive sessions to help you move through this protocol in one experience to help you process one, identified topic with our therapist. Check out our service packages page to learn more about this offering or reach out to see if it’s right for you!