EMDR Therapy

Why EMDR Therapy?

Do you ever have a gut feeling or some kind of anxious feeling that just won’t go away?  Maybe you often have a picture or scenario in your mind that keeps popping up, but it doesn’t make sense to you. Or, you experience flashbacks about an event in your life that causes you to feel on edge or anxious. Whether you have experienced one significant event or  many events that create ongoing trauma, EMDR therapy will help you heal and get rid of these thoughts and body sensations that are interrupting your life! 

What is EMDR Therapy?

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences.  Repeated studies show that by using EMDR therapy people can experience quicker relief in psychotherapy that once took years to make a difference. It is widely assumed that severe emotional pain requires a long time to heal.  EMDR therapy shows that the mind can in fact heal from psychological trauma much as the body recovers from physical trauma. For more information check out www.EMDR.com.

How does EMDR work?

EMDR uses bi-lateral stimulation (meaning both side of the brain) through guided eye movements, tapping, or sounds through headphones. It seems to have a direct effect on the way that the brain processes information. Normal information processing is resumed, so following a successful EMDR session, a person no longer relives the images, sounds, and feelings when the event is brought to mind. You still remember what happened, but it is less upsetting. Many types of therapy have similar goals. However, EMDR appears to be similar to what occurs naturally during dreaming or REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Therefore, EMDR can be thought of as a physiologically based therapy that helps a person see disturbing material in a new and less distressing way.  Sited from EMDRIA.org

How long does EMDR take? What does it involve?

The length of the EMDR therapy is dependent upon what a person is addressing. The more complex issues, the more sessions it might require. Each session is 50-80 minutes, which is determined by the client and therapist together. The first few sessions are dedicated to history taking and gaining resources and skills to proceed with the treatment. After that we move into processing the issues we identified.

You can feel better and have healthy relationships. I can help you get to a place where you no longer have flashbacks, panic attacks, or are always on edge. My specialty is having worked with people involved in a single traumatic incident and mass violent incidences. 

Take 20 minutes and give me a call for your free phone consultation.

Or email me at norine@westlaketraumaandresilience.com