EMDR Therapy

How EMDR Can Help You Heal From Trauma

Trauma has a lasting impact. Whether you have experienced an isolated incident or a prolonged period of stress, your brain remains susceptible to the negative effects of trauma for the rest of your life. Trauma can cause extreme stress that triggers a flood of emotions, flashbacks, nightmares, and other negative effects that may last for years.

Even if you feel like you’ve processed the incident and moved on with your life, it can still come back to haunt you from time to time. Bad things happen to all of us at some point in our lives, but we don’t have to let them define who we are as people. With renewed strength and focus, anyone can learn to cope with trauma and make peace with their past. While there are multiple approaches to therapy for trauma and PTSD, EMDR has been shown to be one of the most effective.

What Is EMDR?

EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, is one of the most highly researched and effective methods for treating trauma. EMDR works by rewiring the brain’s neural pathways to change how you process and respond to traumatic events. The word “desensitization” in EMDR’s name can be misleading, because it doesn’t actually make you less emotional about the event. It simply helps you to process the emotions and move on from them, rather than letting them linger in your system and keep you in a state of constant stress.

EMDR is not a magic cure-all that works for every person and every situation, but it has been proven to work well for many people. EMDR involves a therapy process that combines eye movements, auditory stimulation, and focused thinking to enable the brain to reaccess and process the emotions associated with a traumatic event.

How Does EMDR Help With Trauma?

Many people experiencing trauma feel stuck in a cycle where they keep re-experiencing the negative emotions and memories associated with their traumatic event. They may try to move on, but the memories keep coming back. EMDR therapy can help you reframe these memories and feelings so that you can process them and move on. This can be a long and challenging process, but it is possible to make progress and finally heal from your trauma. With EMDR therapy, you engage in focused thinking and other mental exercises that help you process your traumatic event. Your brain can’t access these memories and emotions when you are caught in a cycle of trauma, so EMDR re-accesses and re-processes these memories to help you move forward.

Why Does EMDR Work?

Scientists still don’t understand exactly why EMDR therapy works, but there is strong research evidence that supports its effectiveness. Many scientists have tried to reverse engineer EMDR therapy to find out what mechanisms are at work, and they have come up with various theories. Whether or not scientists will ever fully understand exactly how EMDR therapy works, the important thing is that it actually does work. Many people have found healing and relief from the lasting effects of trauma after trying EMDR therapy.

EMDR Therapy Basics

The first step in EMDR therapy is to identify and process your traumatic event. Once you have a clear idea of what happened, you can process it and start to heal. During the processing phase, you will discuss your traumatic event with your therapist and use a variety of techniques to process those emotions and break free from the trauma. You may use imagery, mantras, counting exercises, or some combination of other methods to process your traumatic feelings and break free from their grip. EMDR sessions can occur in-person or online.

Long-Term Benefits of EMDR Therapy

EMDR therapy helps you to process your traumatic event and move on from it. While it is effective in the short term, it can also have long-term benefits. It can help you to have healthier relationships, be better able to handle stressful situations, and have overall higher self-esteem and self-confidence. Many people also report feeling a sense of closure after processing their traumatic event and letting go of the lingering emotions and feelings that held them back. You can finally let go of the shame and self-blame that often comes with trauma and start to see yourself as the person you really are.

EMDR Therapist Near Me

It is important to find a good EMDR therapist to help you with this challenging process. You want to find someone who has experience with trauma therapy, is genuinely interested in your well-being, and is capable of building a strong therapeutic relationship with you. It is a good idea to ask plenty of questions about the therapy process before you commit to working with a therapist. Make sure to find someone who you feel comfortable with, who respects you and your needs, and who you can trust to walk beside you on your journey towards healing.

Therapy for Healing Trauma

Trauma has a lasting impact on the human psyche, but it is possible to heal from the negative effects of trauma. EMDR therapy can help you break free from the cycle of trauma and find closure from your traumatic event. For many people, trauma is an inescapable part of life, and everyone experiences some level of trauma in their lives at some point. While it is important to acknowledge the negative effects of trauma, it is also important to remember that you can heal from trauma and move on with your life.