EMDR Therapy
Are you stressed, anxious, or experiencing symptoms of PTSD or childhood trauma? Maybe you’ve tried to work through your issues with talk therapy, but did not experience effective relief? Often people try EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) because other therapies haven’t been useful in helping them overcome their symptoms. With EMDR we’re able to identify and work toward changing limiting beliefs that are keeping you stuck.
What is EMDR?
EMDR is an effective therapy approach used to overcome a wide range of emotional symptoms including depression, grief, anxiety, abuse, trauma, phobias, OCD, childhood abuse, and low self-esteem. EMDR processing helps you break through the emotional blocks that are keeping you from living an adaptive, emotionally healthy life. It integrates many of the successful aspects of a range of therapeutic approaches that help individuals make the lasting changes they desire to improve their daily quality of life.
How Does EMDR Work?
When stressful disturbing experiences happen, they get stored in the body and brain in the form of a memory. When we get very upset or overwhelmed, the brain and nervous system have difficulty processing the experience as it would normally. As a result, negative feelings, thoughts (core beliefs) and sensations get trapped in our nervous system. Since the brain is unable to process the emotions, feelings, andexperiences, we suppress them into our unconscious. While we may not recognize the impact of the memory, it still lives in our nervous system and over time, it can manifest in uncomfortable and meddling ways.
EMDR does two things. First, it unlocks the negative memories and emotions stored in the nervous system. Second, it helps the brain to process the experience effectively.
Is EMDR Effective?
Substantial research has proven EMDR effectively decreases or eliminates the symptoms of a range of issues including, PTSD, anxiety, and depression. Due to its success, this therapy is recognized by many organizations, including the American Psychiatric Association, World Health Organization, and the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. Research has shown that this therapy can be an efficient and rapid treatment. Given its worldwide recognition as an effective treatment of trauma, you can easily see how EMDR would be effective in working through the “everyday” memories that are the reason people have low self-esteem, feelings of powerlessness, feeling worried, and the other many issues individuals come in for therapy.
To date, millions of people have been treated successfully over the past 25 years.