EMDR Therapy

EMDR is a highly effective and rapid form of therapy for trauma. If you have flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, nightmares, or if you are stuck in a depression or anxiety spiral due to a trauma, EMDR can help you feel better. Trauma can be “single-incident” – one big event like an unexpected death or “developmental” – meaning many smaller situations that pile up over time.

Trauma gets stuck in the body when we don’t have the capacity to process it at the time that it happens. One sign that an event from the past is a stuck trauma is if you still feel the same level of distress when you think about it now that you felt at the time or right after. Once trauma gets stuck in the body it needs help getting unstuck. EMDR is kind of like a magic eraser for trauma. It takes events that feel charged and takes the charge away. You will likely still be able to remember the event and you be able to think about it as upsetting but it will no longer feel upsetting.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing treatment looks like holding on to two egg shaped “tappers” that alternate their vibration from the left to the right to the left and back. The left right left shift is what is referred to by “bi-lateral” and stimulation can be anything from auditory to tactile to visual. I prefer using tactile – the tappers mentioned above because people using find it pleasant and comforting. I also use eye movements when needed or preferred by the client. We do sets or repetitions of approximately 30-45 seconds and then check in to see what is coming up. With EMDR you can say as much or as little about the event as you would like.