EMDR Therapy

EMDR therapy is unique because it doesn’t require the client to talk in detail about the traumatic event/memory or to complete homework. This can be a relief for those who have difficulty speaking about highly distressing life events. Instead, EMDR therapy uses bilateral stimulation (eye moments, tapping, or tones) to improve communication between different regions of the brain. This allows the brain to resume its natural way of healing.
EMDR is especially helpful when a symptom feels persistent or difficult to overcome. You might understand something logically, but your emotional reactions or behavior don’t align with that understanding. This is a good indication that something in the emotional part of the brain needs processing so that your whole brain can work cohesively.

Traumatic events can be defined as any life experience that elicits a stress response which overwhelms the brain’s normal coping and processing capacities. As a result, the memory is stored as “implicit memory” which means that even though the event has passed, we continue to experience emotions, thoughts, and sensations that originate from the time the memory happened. When the memory is processed (through interventions such as EMDR therapy), it is then stored as “autobiographical memory” which means the memory becomes part of your story but the emotions, thoughts, or sensations from it are now distant and no longer intrude on your daily living.

So, even if you haven’t experienced an obvious “trauma” in the way we often think of it, just about everyone has experienced a stress response that the brain cannot process at the time it happens and so most people can benefit from EMDR

Absolutely. You do not need to come in to therapy with a clear idea of which memories need processing. Your therapist is trained to help you find the root of the symptoms/difficulties you’re experiencing. You do not have to figure that out on your own.

EMDR is a progressive therapy, this means that the first session will likely look very different from later sessions.

EMDR early phases
During these initial sessions, your therapist’s focus will be on understanding the problem you’re facing and collaboratively creating an EMDR treatment plan with you. You will likely be asked to fill out some assessment questionnaires to better understand your symptoms, and your therapist will likely ask about your history and current concerns.

EMDR focuses on getting to the root of the problem, this means that an EMDR therapist will be continually drawing connections between your current symptoms/difficulties and past experiences that may be etiological to your current difficulties. From there, your therapist will recommend a treatment plan for which memories to target and process.

Additionally, your therapist will likely offer coping and grounding strategies during these early phases. They may also use bilateral stimulation to augment any positive associations in your brain which will help prepare your brain to process the difficult stuff.

EMDR mid-phases
Once you and your therapist have decided on which symptoms and memories to target with EMDR therapy, your therapist will guide you to process these memories. You will be invited to focus on various aspects of the memories for short intervals of time while receiving bilateral stimulation. As these sessions progress, you will likely notice that difficult experiences associated with the target memory begin to reduce and will have less and less impact on your everyday life. You will also begin to understand these events differently with new perspective.

EMDR final phases
Once you have processed all the difficult memories associated with your symptoms, your therapist will guide you to process any remaining symptoms you experience in the present, as well as any fears for the future.

This is also often a good time to talk through the changes you’ve experienced as well as your new perspective on your life story.

The short answer is yes you absolutely can. The long answer is that if you have a suspected dissociative disorder or complex-PTSD, it likely means your therapist will use modified EMDR techniques to help you. We have EMDR therapists on our team with the advanced training necessary to help clients with complex trauma-related conditions such as these.