EMDR Therapy
What is EMDR Therapy?
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy is a mental health treatment technique for helping clients heal from trauma and distressing life experiences. It is an evidence-based therapeutic approach that has been shown to effectively speed up the processing of disturbing experiences so that clients may heal faster than they may with other methods.
What Does EMDR Therapy Look Like?
The beauty of EMDR counseling is that it doesn’t require talking in detail about a distressing issue or traumatic experience. It protects the client because it is not necessary to share every detail of your experience in order to process it. Instead, EMDR focuses on changing the emotions, thoughts, and behaviors that arise as a result of that experience. This approach allows your brain to resume its natural healing process.
What makes EMDR different?
EMDR focuses on the brain’s natural ability to heal. Your brain is constantly learning and EMDR helps integrate the past with the present. This approach empowers adaptive learning by updating neural network systems and integrating past emotionally-charged experiences that interfere with this process. EMDR breaks through emotional blocks which allows you to let go of the past and update your experiences with a healthier present perspective. EMDR uses a protocol to organize your negative and positive feelings, emotions, and thoughts through bilateral stimulation such as eye movements, neurofeedback sensors, or alternating tapping to help you effectively work through distressing past experiences.
EMDR is based on the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) Model, which is a theory developed by Francine Shapiro about how your brain stores memories. This theory acknowledges that the way your brain stores normal and traumatic memories is different.
Your brain stores the memories of normal events smoothly and networks them so that they are linked to other things you remember. However, during disturbing experiences, networking doesn’t work correctly. Infact, the brain can go offline which leads to a disconnect between your experience and what your brain stores in the memory through language. When your brain stores traumatic memories in this way, it does not allow for healthy healing. Traumatic experiences the brain is like a wound that hasn’t had the opportunity to heal and the brain doesn’t understand that the danger is over.
EMDR Therapy can treat the following conditions:
- Anxiety
- Panic Attacks
- Depression
- Eating Disorders
- OCD
- Grief
- Attachment Wounds
- Trauma
- PTSD
What to Expect in EMDR Therapy?
In EMDR therapy, you access memories of a traumatic event in a specific way. Through the use of various forms of bilateral stimulation (i.e. eye movements and tapping) and guided protocols, you are able to reprocess what you remember from the distressing experience. This reprocessing decreases the emotional intensity of the memory and helps repair the mental injury of the event while connecting with adaptive resources to foster healthy neural integration. EMDR makes the feelings related to the event much easier to manage so that you no longer feel like you are reliving the experience.
EMDR Trained Therapist
Unlock your potential with EMDR therapy with Taylor Michaels, a trusted specialist with a passion for helping you break free from the emotional baggage of your past. Explore how EMDR can help you process emotionally-charged experiences that continue to impact your thoughts and feelings today.