EMDR Therapy

What is EMDR Therapy?

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) sounds very fancy and important, but it’s basically internal exposure therapy with spirit fingers. It is evidence-based, with lots of research proving its effectiveness, but the name makes it sound more intimidating than it is. It involves using “bilateral stimulation” (the eye movement part) while internally reprocessing traumatic or distressing memories. It’s different from traditional talk therapy because it doesn’t require you to analyze or verbally process the trauma or distressing experience to get resolution.

Are you struggling with anxiety, hypervigilence, PTSD/CPTSD, or overwhelming emotions?

Why EMDR Therapy?

Way back in the 1980s, Dr. Francine Shapiro noticed a connection between eye movement and a decrease in negative emotions associated with distressing memories. Now, after multiple clinical trials and refinements, EMDR therapy has been proven effective. It’s recognized by the World Health Organization, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the U.S. Department of Defense as a primary treatment for PTSD.

We all develop both negative and adaptive neural networks based on our experiences. EMDR works by consolidating those networks, keeping what’s useful or adaptive and discarding what is no longer true or needed. It’s kind of like defragmenting your brain.

Let’s say you experienced something traumatic while a certain song was playing and now, even though you’re safe, you feel like you’re losing your mind any time you hear that song. What that means is that your brain created a “negative” neural connection between the traumatic memory and the song. By having you focus on the memory while experiencing bilateral stimulation, we can integrate adaptive life experiences and disrupt the link between the song and the memory. While the song may still be associated with the memory in your mind, this process will ideally desensitize you to the memory and reprocess it so that it has stronger associations to adaptive experiences. Basically, remembering the memory or hearing the song will no longer make you feel like you’re re-living the trauma, so the related feelings will be much more manageable.

The goal of EMDR is to reduce or eliminate triggers associated with traumatic or upsetting memories.

The EMDR process involves us working together to identify a target memory or experience and the associated thoughts, emotions, and/or body sensations. Then, you’ll track back-and-forth movements with your eyes (we may use an image of a ball that goes back and forth across your screen) while receiving guided instructions on accessing and reprocessing the target. We do multiple sets of reprocessing that last from a few seconds to about a minute, briefly pausing after each set to notice any changes. You’ll likely feel some distress during the process, but we’ll work to keep you within your window of tolerance. Once the distress becomes minimal, we’ll “install” or reinforce the adaptive neural network and then move to debriefing and closing the session. To see the EMDR process in action (including multiple forms of bilateral stimulation), check out this video.

How EMDR Therapy Can Help

Many studies show that EMDR reduces symptoms faster than other forms of therapy. People tend to be surprised by how quickly it can work. It can also be less stressful because it doesn’t require you to tell the full story of your trauma or re-live negative experiences. The processing happens internally, with the option to verbally share your experience if that’s helpful to you.

Our goal is to help you feel safe, supported, and knowledgeable about what you’re experiencing. To help you find answers and a path forward. Here are some of the things we can help you with:

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