EMDR & Trauma Therapy

How does EMDR work?

When I first heard about EMDR, I thought it was some weird new age thing that couldn’t possibly work, let alone be taken seriously. But then, I started noticing a lot of well-respected therapists were using it and reporting that their clients were improving; quickly.

So, I started looking into it, and through my research, I realized that EMDR actually blends some of the best trauma-informed therapies (including CBT and body based therapies) with the addition of bilateral stimulation (eye movements or tapping, etc.) into a unified, structured treatment protocol. The research also showed that it trends to work quickly and has minimal side effects. So, I was “hooked.”

This led to me getting trained in EMDR, and started using it with clients who had been struggling with talk-therapy. The results were surprising, to say the least. Many of these clients stopped ruminating, struggling or living in fear. Their lives improved significantly, and much more quickly than expected.

Since then, I have completed more intensive EMDR training, in addition to other trauma-focused therapies, and I am now an EMDRIA certified therapist. Because of this training, I’ve had the pleasure of watching my clients transform into more grounded, confident, and embodied versions of themselves.

How does EMDR work?

EMDR or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy, is a big ‘ol’ mouthful! What does it actually mean, and how does it work?

In a typical EMDR session, a therapist will help you identify the part of your story that is keeping you stuck, guide you to focus on an element of the story, somatic sensations, thoughts and feelings associated with the story, while engaging in a kind of bi-lateral stimulation (e.g. moving your eyes back and forth, or tapping your hands from side to side) for a short amount of time, until the feelings start to change.

The theory is that the eye movements, or bi-lateral stimulation, are intended to activate each side of your body / brain hemispheres (right/left) while you are guided to reprocess distressing memories. This is repeated until the memory(s) start to lose their effect on you, and ultimately stop fueling present day reactions and triggers. Sometimes tapping left to right or using sounds through headphones are used instead of eye movements. This just depends on what your preference is, and what works best for your nervous system. 

How does EMDR work?

While EMDR isn’t a panacea for all of the world’s problems, and it isn’t necessarily suitable for everyone, it really is an excellent therapy that has helped people all over the world heal from really challenging experiences, and greatly improve their quality of living.

And if EMDR doesn’t seem to be a good fit for you, there are many other trauma-informed treatments we can try together that may be a better fit. If you think you might benefit from EMDR or other trauma-informed therapy, it’s worth it to learn more and give it a try. For additional information, take a look here.