EMDR Therapy

Are memories and experiences preventing you from living and enjoying the present?

Have you ever asked yourself these questions?

Why do I keep thinking about this?
Why can’t I just move past this?
Why does this keep coming up?

Typical memories fit sensibly into our life-narratives. They have a place, time, context.

Traumatic memories are stored in the brain differently.

They become “ways for living” and lessons our brain learns to protect us from future danger. Traumatic experiences become “trauma” when our fight-or-flight senses are activated, and we try to protect ourselves from a frightening or dangerous event but are unsuccessful. Like when we try to flee but we are trapped, or a building collapses around us. When a soldier sees a friend die and can’t save them or when a person holds you down and you cannot get out from beneath them.

Because the fight-or-flight survival instinct failed, it becomes a mark on the mind. Nothing can be trusted in the same way. We can no longer trust ourselves or our instincts. Anything could be a threat. A traumatized person is continuously on the watch for danger. It takes its toll on the person mentally, physically, and emotionally. A traumatic memory is like a log stuck in the river of your life narrative. It gets stuck, and it blocks your life-narrative from flowing as it did before.

The thing is, if you kick that log, the river can start flowing again.

EMDR kicks that log. It helps patients relieve the blockage created by the traumatic experience, so they can move forward and live happy and productive lives. This is accomplished through “reprocessing.”

I know this might sound “woo-woo,” but it actually works.

So, what is EMDR? It stands for Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (and no, it isn’t hypnosis).

This form of therapy was discovered by accident and stimulates both sides of the brain by using lights, sounds, and tapping techniques, and ultimately changes the person’s level of distress for negative memories.

A client is prompted to think about their traumatic memory while watching a dot move back and forth across a computer screen while also receiving alternating beeps in their ears through headphones. This is done for 60-90 minutes. Clients will be asked to rate how distressing the memory is at the beginning of the session and re-rate it at the end of the session.

There are a lot of theories about why this process works, but I think they are kind of garbage. Humans know almost nothing about how the brain works, so I am inclined not to share any of the many guesses about why it works. What we do know and what science has been able to demonstrate is that EMDR does work (and it works faster than talk therapy for resolving trauma).

Let’s kick that log!

EMDR can help you end the cycle of ruminating thoughts, quiet the part of your brain that is always on the look-out for danger, help you put the past in the past and feel comfortable in the present, and move forward with your life.

Call (845) 418-3239 or email me at [email protected], and I will get you set up with a free 15-minute consultation to discuss if EMDR could be a helpful solution for you.