Break free from the emotional hold of trauma without having to re-live it. EMDR therapy is a clinically proven way to healing!
When a person has experienced a highly distressing or traumatic situation, the memory of it can haunt him/her even after the event is over. On some occasions, it is not just a memory; it is a bodily sensation, a sudden mental image that takes over your day, or a behavior that does not fit the situation but that is subconsciously connected to the pain.
If you are exhausted from the past triggering you, but at the same time scared of facing it directly, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy could be a more compassionate and effective way for you to heal.
What Is EMDR Therapy?
EMDR is a systematic, research-supported type of therapy that Francine Shapiro developed in the late 1980s. Initially, it was only used to treat people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, the effectiveness of this therapy has been demonstrated for diverse kinds of problems, e.g., anxiety, panic disorders, grief, and depression; it is especially helpful when these problems are a consequence of traumatic experiences not appropriately dealt with.
EMDR is different from talk therapy in that it does not depend on you recounting or reliving traumatic memories. However, it does use bilateral stimulation (typically eye movements that are guided) to facilitate the brain’s reprocessing of disturbing experiences until they no longer evoke intense emotions.
Understanding How the Brain Keeps Painful Memories
When trauma happens, the brain may not store the memory in the right way; it continually attaches it with extremely detailed sensory input, intense emotions, and irrational thoughts (“I’m not safe,” “It was my fault”). Such memories get “stuck” in the nervous system, so it’s hard for your brain to digest them as it does with other normal experiences.
Therefore, very minor things, e.g., a smell, sound, or interaction, can lead to the activation of that memory, and the person can even have a physical or emotional reaction. The reactions may be too much at the moment, but they are connected to old traumas that have not been processed entirely.
​How EMDR Therapy Transforms Traumatic Memories
​EMDR therapy is a method that helps your brain to reprocess those damaging experiences safely and under proper control. In an EMDR session, a counselor leads you through eight different stages. The actual reprocessing is done during the desensitization stage when you concentrate on one particular memory while also doing bilateral stimulation; usually, it is following a therapist’s fingers from side to side, listening to alternating tones, or feeling gentle taps.
By means of this dual attention (i.e., past memory and present stimulation), your brain ends up reprocessing the memory in a way that it no longer has an emotional charge.
Eventually, the memory might still be there, but the pain related to it is drastically lessened or totally gone.
Healing Through Reprocessing, Not Reliving
​EMDR offers a quite special advantage that you actually don’t need to reveal very disturbing details of the traumatic event. This point has major significance for the people who have stayed away from therapy because of their fear of getting re-traumatized.
​EMDR keeps you in control of your emotions. You are not forced to relive the trauma; rather, you see it, understand it, and are able to get over it with the help of your therapist. EMDR activates the natural healing mechanisms of your brain just as your body heals a physical wound.
​How EMDR Feels During Therapy
​After doing EMDR sessions, most people say they feel emotionally lighter, more grounded, and that they react less to their triggers. Some even say that they can now go over their past and no longer be controlled by pain, shame, or anxiety. A person’s memory does not vanish through EMDR; what gets altered is the way it stays in the brain and body.
For instance, an individual who had panic attacks due to a trauma experienced during childhood may find, after EMDR, that if they are reminded of that time, they will not get scared anymore. The memory is there, but it is more like a narrative that someone can share; a thing that has happened, but it is no longer the way they define themselves.
​What Conditions Can EMDR Therapy Treat?
​Though EMDR is mainly recognized as a treatment for trauma and PTSD, it is capable of being very effective in treating:
- ​Panic attacks
- Phobias
- Anxiety and social anxiety
- Low self-esteem
- Complicated grief
- Depression is connected to the past.
- Emotional discomfort brought on by abuse or neglect as a child
- Medical trauma
​Summary
​EMDR therapy is one of the safest and most effective ways to deal with traumatic memories without getting overwhelmed. It does so by helping the brain see the painful events in a different way, thereby lessening the emotional impact and strengthening one’s emotional reserves. It can be a significant step in the right direction for trauma survivors seeking healing and psychological health.
