EMDR Therapy: A Proven Approach to Healing Trauma and Building Resilience

EMDR Therapy: Unlocking the Healing Power of Your Brain

When something traumatic happens in our lives, most of us typically process it naturally over time. At first it feels really scary, but over time and with a supportive environment and communities, our brains will naturally make sense of the scary thing that happened.

However, other times our brains can store memories in a way that causes us a lot of distress. Maybe it’s small memories over time that have added up to complex trauma - a slow trickle of hurt and betrayal that teaches us negative beliefs about ourselves. It could also be one big traumatic incident that turns our world upside down and changes our ability to function seemingly over night. Either of these types of events could lead to a number of symptoms - nightmares, irritability, relationship struggles, negative self talk, impatience, an involuntary jump at any sudden movement, or other debilitating responses that our nervous system uses because it is stuck in time and thinks we are still unsafe.

EMDR is an evidence based practice - meaning a LOT of research has been done to show that it’s effective at treating childhood trauma/complex PTSD, PTSD, anxiety, depression, OCD, and other mental health challenges. My preferred way of describing EMDR, however, is that it is MAGIC. It’s not, of course. It’s rooted in science and it’s very precise, but when you experience the relief from doing EMDR I think you’ll agree with me.

EMDR is an 8-phase process. We will start with a really thorough intake to get a good history. If we decide that we want to include EMDR into our work together, then we’ll start out by doing some resourcing. This is therapy-speak for just making sure that if you ever get overwhelmed when we’re talking about the traumatic events you’ve experienced that you have a healthy way to take care of yourself. Then, we’ll work together to come up with a list of what we want to focus our attention on. I am very collaborative in this process and will always take your lead in what we choose to work on.

Reprocessing is the phase that EMDR is known for - it’s the part where we use bilateral stimulation (BLS - eye movements, tapping, sound moving back and forth) while you’re holding an upsetting memory in your mind that we are working to desensitize. This is where the magic happens - something that almost feels unbearable to think about begins to feel less and less intense. Eventually, it won’t cause any disturbance. It may always be something you wish had gone a different way, or an awful memory, but it won’t light your nervous system on fire anymore. Once that memory is desensitized and no longer holds an emotional charge to it, we move on to integrating positive beliefs and thinking about the future.

Have more questions about EMDR or what it would look like for you? Book a free consultation and let’s chat!. You can read more about EMDR by clicking here.  

  • The short answer is - maybe, but that wont’ be our goal in working together. Some people find that when they start reprocessing with EMDR, memories come to the surface that they haven’t thought about in a long time. What I’ve noticed over time as I’ve worked with many different individuals, is that our brains typically will not give us anything we are not ready to process. If we get a new memory to work through, it’s usually because we are in a place where we are ready to work through it and find resolution.

  • This is the question I get most often! When we talk about trauma, it’s important to know we are working with two different types of memories. Memories that are on a timeline with details are in our explicit memory - if you don’t have explicit memories, we’ll learn on your implicit memory. Implicit memory is everything your body remembers about what happened - the sensations (smell, touch, images/pictures, sounds, and even taste) and emotions. Specializing in complex trauma has given me many tools to work with this type of memory, and I believe we can do some really good work even if no specific memories come to mind.

    Also, EMDR is a three pronged approach - past, present, and future. Chances are that something has happened recently that has recreated what you experienced earlier on in life. While starting with earlier/past memories is preferable, a “present-prong” approach is also very effective at getting you some relief and will often bring up experiences from the past that we can work with as well.

  • Yes and no! If you’re coming to me because of a recent incident that has resulted in PTSD symptoms, I am confident that we can relieve those symptoms in 4-12 sessions. However, I can’t guarantee this because sometimes we find that the recent incident only feels as traumatic as it does because of a history of trauma that hasn’t been resolved. In this case, we can relieve the symptoms related to the specific incident but I can’t make any promises that all your symptoms will be relieved.

    If you are coming to me for complex trauma, it’s more realistic that we will be working together for a longer period of time. If you’ve been in a lot of therapy before, we may spend 6 months to 1 year together. If this is your first time in therapy, we may need to spend more time together. What I can promise is that my goal is always that you are able to “graduate” from therapy as soon as you are ready. I intentionally add in Internal Family Systems therapy even if our work is primarily focused on EMDR. This is because IFS allows you continue to do deeper work on your own or in community without having to invest in weekly therapy sessions.