tend to yourself + your relationships compassionately

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an integrative psychotherapy approach that has been extensively researched and proven effective for the treatment of trauma. EMDR is a set of standardized protocols that incorporates elements from different treatment approaches.

How does EMDR work?

EMDR therapy is an integrative psychotherapy and uses a technique called bilateral stimulation to repeatedly activate opposite sides of the brain. Therapists often use eye movements to facilitate the bilateral stimulation. These eye movements mimic the period of sleep referred to as rapid eye movement or REM sleep, and this portion of sleep is frequently considered to be the time when the mind processes the recent events in the person’s life.

EMDR seems to help the brain reprocess the trapped memories is such a way that normal information processing is resumed. Therapists often use EMDR to help clients uncover and process beliefs that developed as the result of relational traumas, or childhood abuse and/or neglect. For a more detailed explanation please visit EMDR Institute, Inc.

What does EMDR help?

EMDR had been originally established as helpful for PTSD, although it’s been proven useful for treatment in the following conditions:

-Panic Attacks

-Complicated Grief

-Dissociative Orders

-Disturbing Memories

-Phobias

-Pain Disorders

-Performance Anxiety/General Anxiety

-Depression

-Stress Reduction

-Sexual and/or Physical Abuse

None of the above symptoms or experiences fit you?

Do you experience distressing emotions that appear to you, and perhaps to others, to be excessive given the current situation? Do you tend to be highly reactive to certain triggers? Is there one or more dysfunctional belief that you believe about yourself that on an intellectual level you know is not true?

If so, you may still be a good candidate for EMDR therapy.

The hallmarks of Trauma-Informed Therapy are:

-A safe therapeutic environment emotionally and psychologically. (Trauma makes you feel unsafe. In order to treat trauma, the therapeutic environment must be a safe one. The client should feel safe with the therapist. The room itself should be calm and relaxing and free of triggers.)

-An understanding that behaviors developed to cope served an important purpose.
(Some people develop coping mechanisms that are overall detrimental to their health or wellbeing. A trauma-informed professional will help you to recognize that there’s nothing to be ashamed of for surviving. Your coping mechanisms have kept you alive and safe so far, and that is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, we can be grateful and honor those survival skills.)

-Recovering from trauma is a main goal of this type of treatment.
(Trauma-Informed care not only looks at the surface level behaviors but aims to heal the underlying issue that causes them: the original trauma. Healing the trauma can lead to reducing or eliminating the coping behaviors that are causing distress.)

-Teaching new coping skills.
(Healing trauma often includes learning about trauma and the impact of trauma. After that, a trauma-informed therapist will work with you to develop new coping skills and new ways of relating to and soothing your nervous system’s response to being activated.)

-Collaboration.
(Your therapist works with you to provide your care. They should ask you what your goals are for treatment, and then work with you to form a plan to achieve them. You are an active participant in this type of therapy.)

(Info taken from: https://www.gstherapycenter.com/blog/2019/8/16/what-is-trauma-informed-therapy)