EMDR

You want to move on – but you can’t.

Ever since “it” happened, it’s as though something is frozen – paralyzed. The memories – and the pain that goes along with them – keep playing out in your mind.

It isn’t easy to get the most out of anything or be fully present to an experience because they keep flooding back.

And they’re getting in the way of everything important to you – home, work, relationships. Sometimes, you wonder if you’ll ever be free.

Perhaps you’ve considered or even tried traditional talk therapy, and the thought of having to recount it all over again fills you with dread. But there is a way to move past it – with EMDR.

What is EMDR therapy?

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It’s a type of therapy that can help you heal from the symptoms and emotional distress caused by disturbing life experiences.

It can help you get moving forward with your life again.

Who can it help?

You may have heard of EMDR in conjunction with trauma, anxiety, panic attacks, anger, and painful memories.

However, it can also provide relief for those dealing with grief and loss, self-confidence and insecurities, and fears.

And it can also allow you to overcome bad habits and relationship problems.

How does it work?

It’s all about the healing power of the brain.

Before EMDR, the prevailing belief was that severe emotional trauma required a lengthy healing process. However, EMDR therapy has shown that the mind can heal from psychological trauma like the body recovers from physical trauma.

For instance, when you get a cut on your finger, your body works to close the wound. If a foreign object or a repeated injury reopens the wound, it festers and causes pain. Once you remove the irritant, healing can begin.

The brain can heal similarly. An alarming experience can exert too much pressure and block the brain’s ability to process the memory properly. The resulting emotional wound can then fester and cause significant pain and suffering. However, once we relieve the pressure, healing can begin.

EMDR sounds intense.

You may experience some intense feelings, but you’ll also experience them being processed and fading away. One of the great things about EMDR is that you don’t have to keep talking about disturbing events and feelings. You keep feeling and processing – and letting your brain guide you toward healing.

What happens during EMDR?

During the process, you’ll bring your memory forward while performing dual attention stimulation – this means back-and-forth eye movements or tapping on your knees or shoulders.

This process allows the brain and nervous system to reprocess those memories and remove the memory’s emotional intensity. The process transforms the meaning of these painful events on an emotional level.

For example, a victim of an assault may start out feeling powerless and horrified, but after processing the memory, emerge believing that he or she is strong and a survivor.

While you won’t forget the memory, you will no longer feel the accompanying emotional pain. It can be a very liberating experience!

EMDR sounds too good to be true. Does it really work?

I was a skeptic, too. But, yes, it really works. Decades of studies have shown again and again that EMDR can help people experience the benefits of traditional psychotherapy in significantly less time.

So much research has yielded positive results that organizations such as the American Psychiatric Association, the World Health Organization, and the Department of Defense now recognize it as an effective treatment for trauma and other disturbing experiences.

Still have some questions?

No problem. Contact me, and let’s talk about the process.

In the meantime, check out this video to learn more.

Put away the past. Revel in the present. Look forward to the future.

You can’t erase the past, but you don’t have to let it define or control you.

Reach out today (818) 861-6463 and let me help you make sense of it all.

So, you can get on with living and get your smile back again.