EMDR Therapy

Painful memories are like that great white shark in the movies…

…bigger than life, scary, lurking, waiting to spring on you when you least expect it.

Sometimes triggered by an event, a sound, or a smell, these memories strike at the worst times. And they feel like they chomp away more each time.

Emotionally painful moments get trapped in your body, especially when you’re young and felt out of control when they happened.

No amount of talking or thinking it through will alleviate the pain.

That’s where EMDR comes in.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is an accelerated therapeutic process that combines thoughts, emotional physical response, and dual attention stimulation to help you reprocess the memories that hurt most.

Through adaptive information processing, you’ll keep the memory – but, you’ll lose the draining feelings of shame, guilt, and embarrassment that may be attached to it.

What’s it like to experience EMDR?

It’s simple and has amazing results.

The first thing we’ll do together is establish resources that help keep you feeling peaceful, calm, and supported.

EMDR taps into some painful memories and emotions, so we want strong resources in place to help you through them.

I’ll ask you for some history.

Your timeline will help keep the therapy focused and let me know what areas are especially sensitive for you.

The EMDR process then focuses on the mental image that causes you the most disturbance in your body, and the core belief that is attached to that image and disturbance.

While focusing, you’ll hold two little devices in your hands called tappers which will help create a dual-lateral stimulation; you’ll even feel your eyes move back and forth as we work.

Don’t worry, you get used to it and after a while don’t even realize you’re doing it.

It may take a few sets, but you should start feeling some relief by the end of the first session.

Depending on the complexity of the trauma and how willing you are to work through the painful event, the reprocessing can happen within multiple sessions.

Every case is different, and there is no way to predict how long full processing will take.

It may take a few sessions for simple trauma, or it may take a few months for more complex trauma. Please keep in mind: it didn’t take an hour to develop this trauma – it’s going to take longer than an hour to reprocess it. It’s worth the time and investment to feel the relief of letting this trauma go.

After every session we’ll wrap up with your resources to make sure you leave the office feeling supported.

Don’t let those bad memories keep eating you alive. Call me at (954) 263-4517 and let’s get started on them today!