EMDR Therapy
Are You Having A Hard Time Overcoming Your Trauma?
Do you suffer from depression, anxiety, or acute stress?
Is hypervigilance or a lack of security making your symptoms worse?
Do you regularly feel upset, on edge, and triggered?
Yet have you tried other therapy or other interventions only to find no relief from your symptoms?
It’s possible that your persistent symptoms stem from unresolved trauma.
When something distressing or life-altering occurs, the body engages in a trauma response, causing the memory of the event to be stored differently in the brain. Even when danger is not actually present, the brain’s stress response gets short-circuited, causing anxiety, panic, discomfort, and distress in otherwise normal, everyday situations.
Because trauma creates barriers to the nervous system’s response, it takes brain- and body-based treatment to address core issues. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) offers a great alternative to conventional talk therapies that only address surface-level symptoms.
What Is Eye Movement Desensitization And Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy?
EMDR is an evidence-based therapy approach that reprocesses the way that trauma is stored in the brain. EMDR uses bilateral stimulation, which is side-to-side stimulation that involves eye movement, tapping, or other bilateral sensations to engage both sides of the brain, clear neural pathways, and reprocess traumatic memories.
In addition to PTSD and trauma-related symptoms, EMDR is used to treat:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Stress
- Sleep issues
- Physical discomfort
Widely considered one of the most effective trauma therapy approaches by a range of mental health researchers and organizations, EMDR has been shown to drastically reduce trauma-related symptoms among adults, teens, and children.
What To Expect
The EMDR process begins with a general intake that will give your therapist an idea of your treatment goals and help you understand what to expect during the session. It may take a few sessions for the therapist to gather information, assess, and prepare you for EMDR.
From there, you will actively engage in EMDR using bilateral stimulation. Focusing on a target image or memory, you will repeat the desensitization phase—engaging both sides of the brain—as you reprocess the distressing event. After repeating this process a few times, you can expect your distress to reduce drastically or dissipate altogether as you cultivate a deeper sense of calm and control.
The goal of EMDR is to create a sense of distance between yourself, the memory, and your trigger response. You will gain insight into past trauma through this process as you develop new responses and perspectives that will allow you to remain present.
Furthermore, because EMDR targets trauma on a deep level, therapy often moves quickly and does not usually require follow-up once treatment is complete.
Questions? Contact Us
EMDR Is Available Through Mindful Springs Counseling
As therapists who specialize in non-traditional, outside-the-box, and trauma-informed therapy methods, EMDR aligns with our mission to offer clients deep, lasting relief. We have seen this approach transform the lives of clients who struggle with a wide range of symptoms, stressors, and traumas—and we know it can help you, too.
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