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Counselor Blog / Specialties
What Is EMDR Therapy?
What is EMDR?
Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing Therapy, or EMDR Therapy, is a psychotherapy used to treat troubling symptoms, like anxiety, guilt, anger, depression, panic, sleep disturbance, and flashbacks that are a result of traumatic experiences.
When a disturbing event occurs, it can get locked in the brain with the original picture, sounds, thoughts, feelings, and body sensations. EMDR seems to stimulate the information and allows the brain to reprocess the experience. This may be similar to what happens during REM or dream sleep. The rapid eye movements can help to reprocess the traumatic material; Your brain does the healing and you are the one in control.
How does EMDR work?
EMDR therapy uses eye movements to help you unlock certain memories and reprocess it so that it is no longer a sensitive memory for you. You are often asked to rate the memory on a scale of 0-10, where 0 is neutral and 10 is extremely disturbing. At each session, you will continue to use this scale throughout the EMDR process as one way to assess your progress. This is because EMDR allows your brain to heal itself, meaning that the processing and healing can continue between sessions. You may be in a different place at the next session than you were at the close of the previous session. We continue to process the memory until it is no longer bothersome to you.
How long does EMDR therapy take?
This depends on several factors including the nature of the problem being treated, the client’s history, and the client’s ability to tolerate high levels of disturbance. In some cases, one EMDR treatment session is enough. Usually, it takes weeks to months of treatment. When EMDR therapy is used appropriately it can significantly shorten the overall length of time in therapy.
If you are having nightmares or flashbacks, or are having trouble getting a disturbing picture out of your head, EMDR therapy may be able to help. Give us a call at 303-429-5099 or email info@experientm5.sg-host.com to learn more about EMDR Therapy can be effective for you.