EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing)

Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) is an extraordinary tool for transforming the negative impact of distressing life events and trauma. It is based on the theory that overwhelming experiences interfere with the brain’s information processing system.  This results in negative information being embedded in the nervous system in its original distressing form with all the emotions, body sensations, and meanings prompted by the event.  During EMDR, people reprocess past traumas by momentarily attending to these memories while also focusing on an external stimulus such as lateral eye movements, hand-taps, or audio tones.  It’s thought that EMDR and this bilateral brain stimulation help access a person’s traumatic memory network so that more adaptive associations are created.  This then results in new learning and the reduction of emotional distress.

I have found that EMDR helps my clients find a way through painful emotions, stuck behavior patterns, and self-limiting beliefs while promoting a renewed sense of possibility, connection, and personal empowerment.  When an event has been sufficiently processed, clients remember it but do not experience the old emotions or sensations in the present.  They are informed by their memories, not controlled by them.  EMDR is also used to enhance confidence and remove emotional obstacles to performing optimally at work and play.

EMDR has proven highly successful in the treatment of major trauma as well as less disturbing life events that can have similar negative and long-lasting effects on a person’s self-esteem and behavioral choices.  It has been extensively researched and is an accepted treatment for PTSD by the U.S. Department of Veterans Administration (VA), and the International Society for Traumatic Stress (ISTSS).  As an integrative psychotherapy, EMDR utilizes aspects of many other treatment approaches including body-centered, psychodynamic,  experiential, cognitive-behavioral and interpersonal therapies.

I am a Certified Level II EMDR Therapist through the EMDR International Association – our field’s most rigorous credentialing body.  I utilize EMDR extensively in my practice and am very experienced in using this therapeutic method for the treatment of trauma and painful, highly-charged memories, experiences, and relationships.

For more information about how EMDR works and to access research supporting its effectiveness, please explore the links below:

EMDRIA

EMDR Institute