Healing Trauma with EMDR Therapy

If you’re troubled by any of these…

Anxiety or panic…

Depression or sadness…

Fears or PTSD…

Anger or emotional outbursts…

Or trauma of any kind…

There’s a safe, effective treatment shown by research to help.

It works by “reprocessing” the source trauma.

When trauma occurs, the brain often can’t process it as it does “normal” experiences. The emotional and physiological charge of the experience gets “stuck” in your brain, which causes you to relive the pain of the original event.

That traumatic pain gets triggered or reactivated in the present when you find yourself in circumstances similar to those in which the original trauma took place. Unfortunately, time doesn’t heal all wounds.

Many of the challenges you face today are the result of unresolved trauma!

Here’s how it works…

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) helps you reprocess trauma by stimulating both sides of your brain as you reflect on a memory. This action works a lot like the rapid-eye-movement (REM) stage of sleep, where your brain processes the information taken in during the day. The process doesn’t eliminate the memory, but it takes the distress out of it.

There are eight phases:

Phase 1: History-taking – After establishing a relationship with you, I will gather information about your past and any events that you feel are traumatic, are making you feel stuck, or are causing you pain. We will then determine if EMDR can help you.

Phase 2: Preparation and Resourcing – I will explain EMDR and the various methods of BLS. It is important to understand resourcing methods and why they are used. Resourcing tools help manage emotions that many come up during or after EMDR. Some of these feelings or thoughts may be unpleasant or distressing. I teach three resourcing exercises to my clients.

Phase 3: Activation and Assessment – Once you are prepared with resources, I will help you activate the target memory. You will identify what you are thinking and feeling as that memory comes up. During assessment, you will assess the validity of certain memories you may have. I will use a scale of 0 to 10 (SUDS or Subjective Units of Disturbance) to measure how distressing it feels, and you’ll rate how true a belief feels on a Validity of Cognition (VOC) scale of 0 to 7.

Phase 4: Desensitization – We will use BLS to help you focus on the target memory. You’ll measure your distress using the SUD scale. I will encourage you and listen for any possible future targets for processing.

Phase 5: Adoption/Installation – Once you have been desensitized, I will help you instill and adopt the positive belief using BLS. We will then use the VOC scale to determine how true the belief feels to you.

Phase 6: Body Scan – I will ask you to scan your body for any discomfort or feelings that come up after the Process. Often, trauma’s residual effect can be felt in the body, and with your cooperation, we can ensure the memory has been reprocessed and strengthen the brain-body connection.

Phase 7: Closure – Because unpleasant memories or feelings often come up during EMDR, we will utilize resources to ensure you feel emotionally balanced and calm.

Phase 8: Re-evaluation – Each time after our last session, we will check in about stress levels, beliefs, or body tension that may still be present. We assess whether EMDR helped or if new targets need to be addressed.

Traditional talk therapy usually isn’t enough.

Because the trauma is lodged in your mind and body, you need a direct approach to reprocess it and heal. With EMDR, you don’t have to talk about the event at length, potentially reliving it. And it works faster than talk therapy, too!

I know how difficult it can be to work through trauma, but I know it can be done… and that EMDR works. I know because I’ve seen it and experienced it first-hand.

This is a safe, empathetic space. I’m glad you’re here.

You can start healing today by calling or emailing me to set up a free consultation.