EMDR - Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy

What is EMDR Therapy?

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a psychotherapy technique that can help you heal from emotional distress caused by past traumas and negative experiences. Imagine your brain currently filing away memories in a way that keeps them vivid and triggering. EMDR therapy aims to reprocess these memories, lessening their emotional impact and allowing you to make new connections with those memories and ultimately yourself.

During EMDR sessions, you will work to identify a disturbing memory and the negative beliefs associated with it. While focusing on these elements, you'll engage in bilateral stimulation, which can involve following an electronic ball movements with your eyes, tapping or tones. This bilateral stimulation is supported by research to help your brain reprocess the memory in a healthier way, reducing its hold on your emotions and your body. Remember, our bodies hold memories associated with significant moments in our lives. By reprocessing these memories through your body, you will help bridge the mind-body connection enabling more adaptive and healthier responses.

EMDR therapy is a structured in 8 phases with each person’s individualized needs in mine so that the therapy can be tailored to you.

How EMDR Can Help You Heal?

Trauma, Anxiety, Grief, and Loss: EMDR can be highly effective in treating symptoms related to past traumas, including disturbing memories, nightmares, flashbacks, and emotional turmoil. It can also help you navigate grief and loss by processing the associated emotional pain.

OCD, Eating Disorders, Addictions: EMDR can address the underlying negative beliefs and emotions that often fuel OCD, eating disorders, and various addictions (drugs, pornography, sex). By reprocessing these core issues, EMDR therapy can empower you to develop healthier coping mechanisms.

Depression, TBI, and Stress Injuries: EMDR therapy can be a valuable tool in treating depression by helping you identify and address negative self-beliefs that contribute to your mood. It can also be beneficial in addressing PTSD symptoms caused by traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and stress injuries so that daily living and functioning becomes more manageable and less daunting.

If you're struggling with the effects of past trauma, negative emotions, or difficult experiences, EMDR therapy could be the key to unlocking lasting healing.

Key Benefits of EMDR

• Clients will often see their communication abilities and understanding of themselves improves.

• Clients relationships to past events will often change reshaping how their feel towards their memories and themselves

• Clients commonly experience changes in their own reactions to rationales that keep them stuck

• Clients can experience improved acceptance & create mental resilience

• Clients can see an increase brain’s ability to heal and remember in a short period of time.

What to You Can Expect?

While originally designed for trauma, EMDR therapy has proven effective for a wide range of challenges, including anxiety, depression, anger management, addiction, attachment, and relationship difficulties. I've found it particularly beneficial in addressing grief and death loss, traumatic loss, self-doubt, and fears of intimacy. Essentially, EMDR can be a powerful tool whenever limiting beliefs about oneself are hindering personal growth.

Internal Family Systems integrated EMDR (IFSiEMDR)

EMDR + IFS is a combination of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy and Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy that can be an effective treatment for trauma and other mental health conditions.

How it works

IFS therapy helps clients identify and work with their different parts, including those that may be holding onto trauma. EMDR therapy can then be used to desensitize those memories and reduce distress. 

• Benefits

  This combination can help clients develop a stronger sense of identity, heal wounds, and release negative beliefs. It can also help clients develop self-awareness, self-compassion, and emotional regulation. 

• How it's used

  IFS can help prepare clients for EMDR by helping them identify and work with parts that may resist processing traumatic memories. For example, a therapist might help a client work with a part that feels ashamed or guilty about the trauma. 

• Protocols

  The EMDR+IFS PARTS Protocol is one approach that overlays the IFS model onto the standard EMDR protocol. The PARTS protocol helps clients develop insight and understanding of their thoughts, feelings, and behavior

Contact Zack today to learn more about how EMDR can help you heal.