What is EMDR & How Can it Help?

​Do you ever feel like you were reliving something from the past? Feel like your emotions are more intense than the situation calls for? Experience somatic symptoms with no known medical reason? EMDR may be able to help. 

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing, it helps process high stress or traumatic events that get “locked” in the body and mind and are often re-triggered in present day experiences. For example, a previously negatively charged presentation experience can create intense anxiety even panic attack symptoms when presenting current day, a challenging past relationship can make it difficult to trust in the present, and a stressful health experience that started with headache can put you on high alert each time your head starts to hurt in the present. 

When the “locked” experience gets triggered, it can create an experience of spiraling in our mind, repetitive negative thinking or worst-case scenarios, feeling constantly on alert, or overthinking something so much it is draining your energy. It can create a lot of discomfort, and negative emotions of fear, hopelessness and powerlessness. The bilateral movements involved in EMDR unlock the brain to allow the processing of old thoughts, feelings, and sensations; which allows the body and mind to naturally move towards healing. There are similarities to REM sleep in which the bilateral movement helps to process unconscious material. The eye movements allow the negative information to be processed and emotionally discharged, leaving you feeling more at ease and less stressed, with client’s typically experiencing a 60-90% reduction in stress symptoms after completing EMDR.

With any approach there is risks and benefits. Some of risks include EMDR therapy producing elevated emotional and somatic reactions during and after treatment, and possible repressed material can surface. Some of the benefits are listed above and here is an article for some further benefits.

​If you are interested in more information about EMDR here are two videos below:

1. This video normalizes the impact of human experiences and how EMDR can help.
2. This video provides an overview on what to expect in the process of EMDR including the 8 phases.

References
Shapiro, F. (2018). Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy, 3rd 
     edition. The Guilford Press.

If you would like more information about EMDR and how it could help, feel free to reach out to [email protected]