Trauma Therapist, emdr therapy

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EMDR stands for “Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing.” That’s a mouth full, right? Basically, EMDR is an evidence-based approach used to treat trauma. It supports a theory called Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) which is a fancy-schmancy way of saying that your brain has a natural ability to want to heal.

When trauma happens, our belief systems are affected. As you attempt to make sense of a traumatic event, you may notice certain patterns emerging within your belief systems: “I am not good enough. I am not worthy enough. Something is wrong with me. Others cannot be trusted. Relationships are not safe. The world is dangerous.” These cognitions, born of trauma, have a profound, negative impact on us. They create barriers for intimacy, healing, and growth. 

In our therapy together, we can explore your belief systems, how they came to be, as well as any additional conditioning, and heal it from the root. We will focus on creating safety within your nervous system, integrating traumatic events, reprocessing emotions while supporting adaptive beliefs. This is neurogenesis; we are strengthening your brain’s natural ability to repattern and heal! 

 In 1987, Francine Shapiro, the founder of EMDR, came across a curious observation. She noticed that as she was walking in the park, she began recalling distressing memories. As she did so, she developed an awareness that her eyes were rapidly moving back and forth, ever so slightly. She was inquisitive about this physiological response, and noticed that as she reflected on her  negative memories, her emotions decreased in disturbance level. Francine became curious about the connection between her eye movements and how they seemed to help desensitize her distressing memories. 

EMDR serves as a somatic modality focused on achieving internal safety via nervous system regulation, and re-processing through traumatic events via new insights and adaptive cognitions.  

EMDR utilizes your own brain’s natural insights to reframe your maladaptive belief systems into more adaptive, supportive ways of thinking, being, and integrating. As your therapist, I apply bilateral stimulation (BLS) via various methods (eye movements or tapping) in order to encourage problem solving within your own brain and its cognitions.

Through bilateral stimulation of the body, we encourage the right hemisphere  of the brain to communicate with the left hemisphere of the brain. This is essential for problem solving. In fact, when we talk about our trauma, we may experience temporary relief, but we do not “heal” or “reprocess” our trauma. This is because when we are merely discussing traumatic events, we are only utilizing one side of the brain (left); however, during EMDR and via BLS, we are effectively encouraging communication from both hemispheres. 

EMDR therapy often happens in phases: 

In the first phase, we will focus on resourcing your nervous system. During this time, I will guide you through EMDR protocol where we will  focus on establishing, building, and maintaining an internal sense of safety, as well as safety within the therapeutic dynamic. I will lead you through exercises where we will practice “resourcing” your nervous system. I will provide psychoeducation on the neurobiology of trauma, EMDR, and how we can utilize nervous system regulation techniques to support safety in your body and mind. 

In the next consecutive sessions, we will discuss your trauma history. This is where we will spend time exploring your belief systems, the specific event or memory you wish you process, any correlating patterns, and maladaptive coping patterns.

Eventually, we will dedicate entire sessions to the "processing" portion of EMDR which involves processing/re-processing the trauma and correlating beliefs.

Overtime, we will explore and strengthen your adaptive belief system so you can "re-wire" the conditioning that occurred in your life as a result of the trauma. 

You can read more about EMDR here: https://www.emdr.com/