EMDR

EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) is a research-based, effective approach to resolving painful memories and psychological wounds related to emotional, physical, and sexual trauma or abuse.

Sessions follow a specific protocol that allows you to gradually and safely process difficult memories. EMDR helps people enjoy relief from disturbing symptoms of PTSD, intrusive thoughts, nightmares, anxiety, and depressed moods associated with past hurts.

EMDR enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences. Studies show that by using EMDR therapy, people can experience the benefits of psychotherapy that once took years to make a difference. EMDR therapy shows that the mind can in fact heal from psychological trauma much as the body recovers from physical trauma.

For example, when you get a splinter your body works to close the wound. If the splinter or repeated injury irritates the wound, it festers and causes pain. Once the splinter (the block) is removed, then healing resumes. EMDR therapy demonstrates that a similar sequence of events occurs with mental processes. The brain’s information processing system naturally moves toward mental health. If the system is blocked or imbalanced by the impact of a disturbing event, the emotional wound festers and can cause intense suffering. Once the block is removed, healing resumes.

EMDR can be very effective for those troubling memories or ingrained patterns of behavior that traditional talk therapy has not fully helped you to shift: the meaning of a painful event is transformed on an emotional level. For example, an assault victim shifts from feeling weak to both feeling and firmly believing that, “I survived it and I am strong.”

Unlike talk therapy, the insights gained in EMDR therapy are from your own accelerated intellectual and emotional processes. This results in feelings of empowerment rather than the intense pain from experiences that once were triggering and painful. Emotional wounds not just close, they are transformed.

EMDR is recognized by the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association. For more information, please visit www.emdria.org.