EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an extensively researched, effective psychotherapy method proven to help people recover from trauma and other distressing life experiences, including PTSD, anxiety, abuse, attachment wounds, eating issues, sexual dysfunctions and the after-effects of other adverse life events.
When a person is overwhelmed, the brain cannot process information in the way it is intended to, and a moment (such as a traumatic event) can become “frozen in time”. Remembering this even can feel as bad as going through it the first time because the images, sounds, smells and feelings can re-occur just as in the original moment(s). Such memories have a lasting negative effect that interferes with the way a person sees the world and the way he or she relates to other people.
EMDR utilizes bilateral stimulation (BLS), like eye movements or tapping, to reprocess these memories much like we do during Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep cycles. The eye movements activate the left and right hemispheres of the brain by crossing the midline of the body. This process allows individuals to target and reprocess past memories in order to find relief from the negative messages, emotions, and body sensations using the whole brain in its optimal processing.
Following successful treatment, adaptive information processing is resumed, and a person no longer relives the images, sounds and feelings when the event is brought to mind but rather remembers it as something of the past. The goal of EMDR is to decrease the emotional and physiological disturbance of the experience and shift the negative message to a positive one, thus shifting the filter that the person uses as he or she moves through life.
I offer EMDR therapy for traumatic and adverse life events as well as challenges including:
Childhood sexual abuse
Sexual assault
Past physical abuse
Past emotional and/or psychological abuse
Neglect
Shame
Anxiety, Panic attacks
Compulsive eating
Attachment wounding
Grief and loss
Sexual dysfunction
Performance anxiety
PTSD and other trauma-related issues
