EMDR Therapy
A data-driven therapeutic approach that heals past wounds so you can be fully present in the life you want.
Your brain and body often bring you back to the same memories and experiences - like there’s a lesson to be learned.
It might feel like you’re stuck on repeat, even though you know you want things to be different.
Maybe you have already connected the dots. You have the awareness to know explicitly the experiences that left imprints and hold you back now. You’ve probably talked about them, maybe with another therapist. Even though you know that “now isn’t then”, you end up responding to things now with the same patterns of anxiety, fear or control.
It could be that something happened to you recently that stirred things up.
A loss, an accident, or an otherwise emotionally difficult situation. Maybe since this event happened you’ve had a hard time coming back to yourself.
It’s possible you find yourself repeating patterns in relationships with others.
For example, you might find yourself extra-sensitive when you feel unheard. Or perhaps you struggle to speak your mind with the people who matter most.
You might already know exactly what you want to work on and improve. Public speaking. Fear of heights. Navigating social situations. Situations that create stress and anxiety that you can sense you deserve clarity from.
Our brains and bodies want to heal from traumas and wounds.
But when they aren’t given the chance because of relational, environmental or social circumstances they try instead to keep us safe through reminders - sometimes known as “triggers”.
EMDR works by identifying a network of memories that, over time, have created a set of beliefs, emotions, physical sensations and images that cause distress. EMDR uses what is called “bilateral stimulation” (BLS)-which is a fancy way of saying “alternating touch/sound/movement.” BLS helps you reprocess these memories in adaptive ways.
Pictured here are a pair of “tappers” or “pulsers” which deliver bilateral stimulation in the form of alternating vibration.
In our EMDR work together, we provide your system the opportunity to move through the memory so that it is no longer locked in time and can instead integrate with the rest of your experiences.
I often use self-touch in the form of temple or shoulder tapping, because it allows clients to utilize their natural self-soothing mechanisms at the same time they are processing (plus, it’s been a really great way for people to continue their EMDR work using Telehealth!). During BLS our brains enter into the same theta brainwave pattern that it enters during REM sleep (Note: this is the stage of sleep during which we process memories!). One of the reasons I love EMDR so much is that these theta brain waves are the very same waves that connect us with our intuition.
A Little Background on EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is used by many therapists, myself included, to support the healing of emotional wounds and was developed by the late Francine Shapiro, PhD., in the 1980s. Research shows that EMDR can help to support the treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorders, Attachment Disorders, Anxiety Disorders, Depressive Disorders, Phobias and more.
Beyond healing, it is also often used for future-oriented success and performance enhancement (some professional athletes even use it!).
EMDR in Action
I integrate EMDR into almost all of my work with clients. In my experience, EMDR can speed up the healing process significantly. Here are a couple of videos I often recommend to my clients who want to understand more about how EMDR works and how it can help them.
EMDR Intensives
I offer intensive EMDR treatment for those interested in working through a set of memories in a condensed time-frame.
Intensive EMDR sessions are typically offered as either half, full or multi-day sessions and can be used as a standalone or adjunct to talk therapy. Intensives allow us to work through in a matter of days things that would typically take months, or even years, in weekly talk therapy.
My intensive therapy appointments are typically booked at least six weeks in advance to provide both of us with adequate preparation time. Because of the nature of intensive work, there is a more extensive screening process, which sometimes includes an initial in-person or telehealth appointment. Feel free to head over to the EMDR Intensive page to read about how it works and to see if an EMDR intensive is the right fit for you.
If you, like me, are data-driven, take a look at this study which found EMDR to be the most cost-effective form of trauma treatment.
