What is EMDR Therapy?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR) is an integrative therapy that has been extensively researched with many populations and presenting mental health problems. EMDR is effective for treating the following challenges:
- Trauma symptoms, PTSD, Complex PTSD
- Anxiety
- Addictions
- Complex grief
- Addictions
- Sexual/physical/emotional abuse,
- Phobias
- Dissociative disorders
- Relationship betrayals & break ups,
- Low self-esteem, perfectionism and self criticism
- Processing difficult or shocking situations and experiences
- Many more mental health problems
What is different about EMDR Therapy from regular therapy?
EMDR is very different from traditional talk therapy as you don’t need talk about all the details of the presenting issue or experience in order for the therapy to work. EMDR uses something called “bilateral stimulation” through the forms of eye movements or tapping to access unprocessed (or “stuck”) memories or beliefs and process them through until completion, and the symptoms are significantly reduced or gone all together.
How does bilateral stimulation help me heal from my trauma?
“Eye movements or other forms of bilateral stimulation seem to activate your problem-solving process, something that happens during REM sleep when your eyes are darting back and forth.By focusing on a specific problem and its negative and positive emotions, sensations, and beliefs, then adding bilateral stimulation, your brain begins problem-solving. Since you are focused on the specific problem, your brain can work through it more effectively than what may randomly come up while sleeping.” – EMDR Consulting
What else can EMDR help with?
Oftentimes traumatic experiences can change our beliefs about ourselves and the people around us. With EMDR we not only target the specific experiences to and lower the intensity of your response to it, but also the beliefs that were formed as a result of these experiences. EMDR therapy can help you see the cognitive mismatch of thoughts and beliefs: what was in the past and what you know about yourself now, after the event.
EMDR helps link, blend and consolidate past negative experiences into a present adaptive network. This means that it supports your neural (brain) network in keeping what is helpful for you now and letting go of what is no longer necessary to ruminate or reflect on. Learn more about EMDR here.
EMDR is currently offered by our counsellor Amy both in person in Vancouver and online. Connect with us HERE to see if EMDR is a good fit for you.
