Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)
What is EMDR?
EMDR helps people feel better after difficult or traumatic events (events that cause emotional shock). The idea behind EMDR is that these distressing memories don't get processed correctly by the brain. This makes them easily triggered, which causes people to feel distress. EMDR helps the brain process and store these memories properly. This makes the memories less upsetting and reduces the negative impact from trauma.
EMDR is often used to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (a mental health condition triggered by experiencing or seeing a terrifying event). But it can also help with other mental health problems, like depression (persistent feelings of sadness and loss of interest in activities) and anxiety (intense, excessive, and persistent worry) and phobias.
What are EMDR sessions like?
The first few sessions will focus on assessment (gathering information). We will talk about the problems you are having and what memories are still upsetting and distressing you. We will talk about your goals for therapy, and how you'd like to see your future.
I will teach you some techniques to manage distress, to use both inside and outside of the therapy sessions. We can use these during a session if we are working on a particularly hard memory. You can also use them between sessions if you feel anxious (worried), sad, or upset.
Once we agree on what to focus on, and you are ready to work on old memories, we start the brain's natural way of processing memories. We do this by using side-to-side eye movements, or "butterfly taps" on your shoulders. You will think about the upsetting memory. I will ask you to let your mind "go with" whatever comes up. Just notice what happens. This might sound strange. But, it has been found to help our brain process memories.
We will repeat this until the memory upsets you less. This might happen in one session, or it might take more than one session. Then, we will repeat this with any other upsetting memories.
Contact me by clicking below if you would like to discuss whether EMDR is right for you.