EMDR Therapy

What Is EMDR?

There are many times in our lives when we feel “stuck”—stuck in the same negative beliefs, the same unhealthy relationship patterns, and the same old emotional wounds that we’ve always carried with us. All too often, we don’t realize that this feeling of stuck-ness is usually rooted in trauma.

Trauma is any experience that is too overwhelming for the nervous system to process. Think of it like food you can’t digest; if your brain can’t handle an experience, it can’t properly digest it as a memory. The event feels frozen in time, like the past is repeating itself in the present. This is what makes you feel stuck in old thoughts, feelings, and sensations.

EMDR is a revolutionary approach to trauma therapy. It uses a series of gentle stimulation techniques to help your brain and body process and resolve the pain of the past. The goal is to break through the emotional blocks that keep you from living a healthy and adaptive life.

How Effective Is EMDR?

Francine Shapiro founded EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing) in 1987 when she realized that certain eye movements had the ability to neutralize the pain of negative emotions. She would use the same technique with her patients, moving her finger back and forth and having them follow it with their eyes while they recalled traumatic memories. This activity helped them form new associations with their memories, allowing them to remember what happened without feeling traumatized.

Today, EMDR is widely considered the gold standard of trauma treatment. One study found that about 84-to-90-percent of single-trauma victims had no more PTSD symptoms after just three 90-minute sessions of EMDR therapy. Another found that about 77-percent of multiple-trauma victims had no more symptoms after just six sessions. The World Health Organization, The American Psychological Association, and the Department of Veteran’s Affairs all recognize EMDR as highly effectively for treating trauma.

EMDR can also be used to treat depression, anxiety, addiction, and a myriad of other mental health conditions. Here at Wilmington Psychotherapy, we use the approach for various forms of emotional distress.

What Does EMDR Therapy With Wilmington Psychotherapy Look Like?

We work with all of our clients to come up with a treatment plan that accomplishes their goals. They can choose EMDR therapy in addition to any other approaches that they think would help. That’s the great part about EMDR—it can be used in conjunction with all of the other approaches we use, including Mindfulness, Motivational Enhancement Therapy, and Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy.

The first part of EMDR is the resourcing stage. During this stage, the therapist will help the client come up with strategies for staying grounded throughout treatment. What these skills are depends on what works best for the client. They can be breathwork, meditation, positive affirmations, or any other calming strategies.

Next, the therapist will perform EMDR treatment with the client. They will ask the client a series of questions to help them access a negative experience that is central to their trauma. They’ll also ask the client about their desired resolution for it. Then the therapist will begin using a series of visual and auditory cues and have the client follow along. While the therapist moves their finger back and forth, the client will follow it with their eyes as they recall their traumatic experience (the same stimulation can also be achieved through other sensory exercises, such as tapping to a repeated beeping sound).

Doing this exercise repeatedly will stimulate both sides of the client’s brain: emotional and intellectual. The emotional effects of trauma can be moved into the intellectual part of the brain. This means that the client can now think more rationally about what happened and recognize that their trauma isn’t happening anymore. In other words, EMDR can take the emotional impact out of traumatic memories, “desensitizing” them. The client can now enjoy a healthier perspective and integrate new beliefs and insights into their life.

Why Should I Choose EMDR Over Other Forms Of Therapy?

Standard talk therapy requires that you discuss your traumatic experience in order to make progress. This puts you at risk of re-traumatization. If you have a severe case of PTSD, it can even make your trauma worse.

The great thing about EMDR is that you can share as much or as little as you want about your trauma. The focus is on the emotions and sensations that stem from your trauma, not the experience itself.

What’s more, it’s hard to address the source of trauma with ordinary talk therapy. Sometimes you may not even be able to articulate the source. EMDR gets right to the root of your pain, addressing the felt impact of it in the body. It doesn’t erase traumatic memories, but it diminishes the pain of living with them. EMDR counseling “updates” the brain’s memory system, taking past situations and updating them with present information. This makes it more powerful than any other approach to trauma therapy.

Your Past Does Not Define Your Future

If you want to break free from the shadow of the past and embrace a brighter future, we encourage you to pursue EMDR therapy with us. Our EMDR specialist, Elizabeth “Clay” Doxey, has received intensive training and supervision in the approach.

To connect with us, you can call 910-777-1189 for a free, 15-minute phone consultation. You can also email us or use the online scheduling system to book your first session.