EMDR

“Changing the memories that form the way we see ourselves also changes the way we view others. Therefore, our relationships, job performance, what we are willing to do or are able to resist, all move in a positive direction.

-Francis Shapiro (founder of EMDR)

How Does It Work?

In EMDR therapy, you’ll work with your therapist to help strengthen your mind and body’s ability to access calm and contain distress. Your therapist will help assess what is stuck. In the reprocessing phase of treatment, your therapist will use bilateral stimulus (eye movement, tactile, or auditory) as you work through the old material. This mimics the way your brain processes during the REM sleep cycle and helps your system consolidate information in new ways. EMDR is designed to address thoughts, emotions, and the body and is helpful for people who may not have gotten relief from traditional talk therapy.

About EMDR Therapy

EMDR  (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is an approach to treating trauma that is based on the research and clinical work of Francine Shapiro, Ph.D. EMDR uses the brain’s natural healing mechanisms to help our minds and bodies reprocess experiences of trauma and distress.  

Ideally, when we experience adverse events, our systems are able to naturally rebalance themselves. When this happens, we can look back on difficult experiences with the sense that, that was really hard, it’s over, and I’m safe now. But at other times, we don’t have what we need to feel regulated, our systems get overwhelmed, and we get stuck. We might feel wired and anxious anytime we are reminded of the past, or we may freeze and shut down. EMDR is a way to access the brain’s natural healing mechanisms and help the system get unstuck.

Who Benefits from EMDR?

EMDR is beneficial for a wide variety of concerns, but especially those who have experienced:

  • Shock trauma is loosely defined as a single-episode traumatic event such as a car accident, natural disaster, battlefield incident, physical attack, etc.

  • Pervasive trauma: multiple or ongoing exposures that may include microaggressions, exclusion, racism, war, abusive home life, harassment, spiritual abuse, etc. OR

  • Developmental trauma: the less obvious/visible effects of insufficient or detrimental attention from primary caregivers in childhood.

EMDR Practioners at Oasis