EMDR Therapy

Trauma and EMDR…

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is an evidence-based practice discovered by Francine Shapiro. It’s used to treat trauma and help facilitate the brain’s natural healing processes.

During a traumatic or stressful event, the brain does not process information as it normally would. Instead, information can get stuck or stored in the brain in unhelpful ways… ways that can negatively affect you in the present.

The old stored memories can be triggered in various ways and can cause you to have thoughts, feelings, or bodily sensations that transport you back to the time the trauma occurred. This can affect the way a person sees the world and how they relate with others.

What we’ll do and how it helps…

EMDR uses eye movements (similar to what occurs during REM sleep) to help facilitate information processing and relieve the effects of trauma and the accompanying negative beliefs. This is accomplished using bilateral stimulation in a variety of ways including watching the therapist’s fingers moving back and forth, holding pulsers in each hand that alternate back and forth, or listening to tones through headphones that alternate from left to right.

This bilateral stimulation helps to “reprocess” memories and information, and remove any accompanying unpleasant emotions and/or negative beliefs.

Following a successful EMDR session, you will still remember what happened; but you will not be emotionally overwhelmed when recalling the painful memories of the incident. This allows you to access positive ways of viewing the original trauma (reprocessing) and to release the stored negative emotional reactions around it (desensitization).

In many cases, other memories that may have attributed to the same negative belief (such as “I’m not good enough” or “I’m a bad person”) may also heal as well. This linking of related memories can lead to a dramatic and rapid improvement in many aspects of your life.

Let’s work on this… together.

If you’re tired of living with the effects of past trauma, I encourage you to reach out and try this highly effective and proven form of therapy.

You’ve suffered with this long enough… life is meant to be enjoyed!

Please give me a call (909) 263-1535 or fill out the contact form below, and let’s schedule a free consultation to talk more about EMDR or to schedule your first appointment.