What is EMDR?

EMDR therapy, or Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing therapy, is a specialized, evidence-based modality that is proven to be highly effective in reducing the symptoms and distress that have stemmed from upsetting or stressful life experiences. Traumas and other upsetting events often impact our feelings of safety, our beliefs about ourselves, or our beliefs about the world around us. These beliefs and ways of thinking can contribute to emotional distress, avoidance, fear, and feelings of disempowerment. EMDR therapy taps into the brain’s natural tendency towards healing, allowing clients to release blocks and reprocess upsetting events or circumstances in a way that allows them to have more adaptive, helpful beliefs and reduced distress/disturbance relating to the trauma(s) or impactful events. Many clients describe EMDR as a remarkable modality that has helped them to heal and move forward to live fuller, more connected, and more empowered lives.

Who is EMDR for?

There have been multiple, extensive studies that have shown EMDR is highly effective in reducing the symptoms of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). PTSD can result from an acute trauma, which is an isolated event (such as a car accident or natural disaster), or from chronic/complex trauma, which results from long term exposure to an emotionally or physically unsafe situation (for example, an abusive relationship). Complex PTSD results from not just one upsetting situation, but from a series of multiple events or from continuous, ongoing dynamics/circumstances.

That being said, you do not have to have experienced a traumatic event in order to benefit from EMDR. EMDR can support people to identify and rewrite the negative messaging that they carry with them from earlier life experiences that no longer serve them in the present. For example, someone who feels inadequate and insecure may use EMDR to pinpoint where these messages and beliefs first began, then continue to reprocess those experiences and develop new, more accurate, more empowering beliefs and perspectives, and subsequently build a stronger self-esteem.

While EMDR is most often associated with its amazing efficacy in treating PTSD, it can also be highly effective in treating anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, fears/phobias, unhelpful patterns of behavior, and more. Our EMDR trained providers will walk you through what to expect so that you feel comfortable, prepared, and aware of what to expect from EMDR. 

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