Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR Therapy)
Thinking about the negative things we’ve experienced is never pleasant, and sometimes traditional therapies can cause us to retraumatise ourselves without actually solving the original problem.
EMDR Therapy is one of the most exciting therapeutic methods of allowing our brains to recover from the damage of the past. It unlocks our innate healing ability and allows us to reframe our thoughts and feelings in a positive light.
What is EMDR Therapy?
EMDR Therapy is a psychotherapeutic approach that helps us to heal from traumatic events in our past. Often, these events cause significant symptoms and emotional distress and have a severe impact on our lives.
The thinking used to be that these traumatic events took years of therapy to heal from; however, with EMDR Therapy, the process is often much faster.
What does EMDR Therapy help?
Primarily, EMDR Therapy helps with healing past trauma.
Most of us have experienced trauma to some degree – anything that puts us under significant stress is enough to cause it. This can range from serious abuse to feeling misunderstood. It’s not about the event, it’s about your reaction to it.
EMDR Therapy helps the mind to heal in the same way that your body heals a wound. If you get a splinter in your hand, once you remove it, your body can start to mend itself. If you leave the splinter in there, it will get worse and cause pain.
Our bodies react to trauma in the same way – if it’s left untreated, it festers. However, once we remove these barriers it has the capacity to heal. Through the protocols and procedures followed in EMDR Therapy training sessions, we’ll help your brain’s information processing system unlock this.
Is EMDR Therapy effective?
EMDR Therapy has been shown in multiple controlled clinical trials to be an incredibly effective intervention for trauma. So much so, that it’s now recognised by the American Psychiatric Association, the World Health Organization, and the Department of Defence.
How does EMDR Therapy work?
When we experience trauma, our brains often cannot fully process what is going on in that precise moment. The memory becomes imprinted in us, and even years later it can feel as vivid as if it were happening in front of our eyes.
EMDR Therapy aims to help us remove this imprint and reprocess the memory in its entirety, which reduces the intensity. It also helps us to lessen the emotional impact of this event so that we can think about it without being overwhelmed.
In EMDR Therapy , we recall the event while either moving our eyes from side to side, hearing an alternating sound in each ear, or feeling a tap on each hand alternately. These sensations help our brains process past events like any other memory. It’s thought that this could be due to the similarity to REM (rapid eye movement) or because distracting the brain allows it to process the memory without fully reliving it.
The ultimate goal of EMDR Therapy is to fully process the past experience that’s causing us pain and form new beliefs about ourselves. It focuses on:
- Past memories
- Present disturbances
- Future actions
EMDR Therapy takes place in eight phases over a series of sessions. You remain in control for the duration, and you can stop at any point. Treating trauma is a serious issue, and your comfort is the most important thing to us.
EMDR Therapy with Vitalis Wellbeing
Even though EMDR Therapy is highly effective, it’s only one part of your customised treatment with Vitalis Wellbeing. You’ll also benefit from traditional psychotherapy, delivered by our attuned and compassionate therapists, and the support you need will be available for as long as you need it.
