According to emdria.org, EMDR is a structured therapy that encourages the patient to focus briefly on the trauma memory while simultaneously experiencing bilateral stimulation (typically eye movements), which is associated with a reduction in the vividness and emotion associated with the trauma memories. EMDR has undergone many successful research trials, and has been proven from distressing symptoms of anxiety, trauma (PTSD), OCD, chronic pain, and other distressing life events.
EMDR focuses on the brain’s ability to constantly learn by updating past experiences with present information, giving you your power back with your emotions, bodily sensations, and thinking about yourself. The brain’s adaptive learning is constantly updating memory network systems. Past emotionally charged events block or interfere with your brain’s ability to process present situations in the here and now. EMDR therapy helps you break through this block, or “stuck place,” to let go of the previous experience, allowing you to take in the present moment with a more adaptive, healthier overall experience.The
EMDR protocol uses bilateral stimulation (BLS) to reorganize your brain’s negative and positive emotions, sensations, and thoughts to help the brain reprocess the “stuck” memories, providing you with present experiences where you feel more calm and peaceful, and ultimately have more adaptive beliefs about self.
Throughout the EMDR therapy, you will engage in sets of BLS, whether eye movements or auditory or tactile. These sets are alternated with your brief reports about what you notice during the set. This processing continues until the past experience has been reprocessed with the more adaptive present belief system and emotional response. The length of EMDR depends on the complexity of the presenting concerns and how your brain and body process through EMDR therapy. You and your EMDR therapist will determine together the best option for you and your healing.
If you are interesting in EDMR as your therapy choice, please reach out today!
