EMDR Therapy

Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy is an evidence-based treatment for healing trauma, incorporating the mind and body. Research has shown that EMDR can help people recover from PTSD, depression, panic, anxiety, and other distressing experiences.

Sometimes, when trauma happens, it’s less about the event itself, and more about the beliefs we internalize about ourselves or the world in relation to the event. Some common examples of this might be “I’m bad”, “I’m not good enough”, “I’m worthless”, “No one can be trusted”, “I don’t have choice”, “My body is wrong”, and many more. Many times, we know these beliefs aren’t true, but they feel true.

Sometimes people are able to heal from traumatic experiences on their own (the brain is truly incredible!). Sometimes things get “stuck” and more tools/support are needed. EMDR provides the intentional space and time to help the brain do what it already knows how to do, specific to a certain situation or traumatic event.

I offer EMDR therapy in the form of Individual Sessions as well as EMDR Intensives.

How does it work?

Have you ever been bothered by something, and someone might say, “don’t worry about it right now - go home, sleep on it, and see how you feel tomorrow”?

When we get restful sleep, we can enter into a stage of sleep called Rapid Eye Movement sleep (REM sleep). In this stage of sleep, our eyelids are shut, but our eyes move back and forth (rapid eye movements). This is called “bilateral stimulation” (stimulation of the right and left sides of the brain and body, alternating) - something our brain and body does naturally, when we sleep, to process through things.

During this stage of sleep is usually where our dreams happen - our brains are sorting through a lot of information (feelings we’ve been sitting with, recent or past experiences, topics that have been on our minds, etc.) and storing it where it needs to go in memory.

In the ‘80’s, Francine Shapiro noticed that bilateral stimulation can decrease negative emotion associated with distressing thoughts or memories, and developed what we know today as EMDR. EMDR uses different forms of bilateral stimulation when a person is awake to process more specifically through things that have been “stuck”.

What are the benefits of EMDR?

Compared to more cognitive models, EMDR is a “bottom-up” model, meaning it treats the root of the trauma on a somatic and neurological level. Through EMDR therapy, one can experience less (or zero) PTSD symptoms, feel less triggered by thoughts of the trauma, and acquire new adaptive beliefs about themselves or the world (i.e. “I am good enough”, “I’m okay as I am”, etc).

EMDR can be an intense experience and is not recommended for clients to try on their own without a trained therapist present. Working with an EMDR therapist, you can find out if EMDR might be right for you, and what steps to take to do that safely. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, we have also learned about the effectiveness of EMDR over Telehealth. EMDR can be done just as effectively over a Telehealth platform, which allows clients to experience trauma healing in the comfort of their own space.

EMDR therapy can be held over a number of individual sessions, and/or in an intensive format. More on EMDR Intensives here.

More information can be found through the EMDR International Association site.

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