You may have heard about EMDR; it’s become more and more popular as people learn about its effectiveness from friends or family who have undergone EMDR therapy or from movies and television. EMDR may seem like a new therapy, but it’s actually been around since the 1980s.
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, although any bilateral stimulation can be utilized to achieve results, including tactile stimulation with pulsators that you hold in your hands or auditory stimulation with headphones. EMDR is a well-researched, effective psychotherapy technique that has been proven to help people recover from trauma and other distressing experiences that are keeping them from enjoying life to the fullest. In short, EMDR therapy helps resolve unprocessed traumatic memories in the brain. For most clients, EMDR can be completed in fewer sessions than other forms of therapy.
One of my favorite things about EMDR therapy is that unlike traditional talk therapy, it does not require talking in detail about the distressing event that you are seeking help for. Instead, EMDR therapy focuses on changing the emotions, thoughts, or behaviors resulting from the distressing issue, and allows the brain to do what it’s designed to do; heal itself.
I’ve provided a link to a brief video below that will help provide you with more information about EMDR therapy. I’ve also listed common issues that EMDR is used to treat and organizations that recommend EMDR. EMDR has to be experienced to be fully understood and it takes a bit of courage to undertake, but the results experienced are remarkable. Regardless of your own path to healing, I wish you grace for the journey.
​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkfln-ZtWeY
EMDR therapy can be utilized for the following:
- Anxiety, panic attacks, and phobias
- Chronic Illness and medical issues
- Depression and bipolar disorders
- Grief and loss
- Performance anxiety
- Substance Abuse and addiction
- Personality disorders
- PTSD and other trauma and stress-related issues
- Sexual assault
- Sleep disturbances/nightmares
- Violence and abuse
Some of the organizations that recognize EMDR as an effective treatment include the American Psychiatric Association, the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs/Dept. of Defense, The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and the World Health Organization.
​If you’ve met with me and are ready to begin preliminary EMDR work, follow the link below to the DES II questionnaire. Remember to answer the questions based on what you experience currently as opposed to what you have experienced in the past. When you’ve completed the questionnaire, please let me know your score.
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