IS EMDR RIGHT FOR ME? HEALING TRAUMA STORED IN MEMORY

February 5, 2024by Lauren0

Is EMDR right for me?

Healing Trauma Stored in Memory

Have you been dealing with the effects of trauma, anxiety, grief, depression, disordered eating, addiction, or chronic pain and found limited success in traditional therapy?

Grounded Resilience is proud to now offer Eye Movement Desensitization and reprocessing therapy, or EMDR, an evidence based psychotherapy that addresses these and many other mental health problems across the lifespan.

EMDR is based on the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model. Through this model, psychopathology is viewed as due to the incomplete processing of traumatic or disturbing adverse life experiences. While the information encoded at the time of the memory may have been adaptive, it may become frozen in time and the associated beliefs may generalize and cause distress in the present. In other words, beliefs and intense sensations or emotions get ‘stuck’ and reminders of the event can lead to experiencing a threat when there is not imminent danger in the present environment.

The bilateral stimulation used in EMDR mimics REM sleep where we do most of our dreaming and unlocks the body’s natural information processing system. This allows new empowering beliefs to be linked to old memories and leads to alleviation of presenting symptoms, a decrease or elimination of distress from the disturbing memory, improved view of the self, relief from bodily disturbance, and resolution of present and future anticipated trauma reminders.

Myths about EMDR

MYTH– EMDR is the same a hypnosis
- FACT– EMDR is different from hypnosis in that you are completely aware throughout the entire process and in control of how deep you choose to process the memory. EMDR allows you to change how your brain stores the memory, while hypnosis focuses on creating blocks to your brain accessing traumatic memories.
MYTH– I will loose my memory if I do EMDR
- FACT– EMDR will not change what happened. You will still recall the events, but without the same distressing emotions, thoughts, imagery, and sensations.
MYTH– EMDR can create false memories
- FACT– EMDR helps you reprocess what is already stored in your memory now. Memories are always inaccurate to a degree and subject to change over time. EMDR will help you rework beliefs attached to memories that interrupt your sense of safety in the now in the way that tuning a fire alarm will help it more accurately detect a fire and not everyday cooking.
MYTH– I will have to relive my traumatic experiences in EMDR and talk about them
- FACT– The goal of EMDR is to observe memories as if you were riding in a train and watching them outside the window, rather than reliving them. Some clients can experience relief or positive effects in just a few sessions. EMDR is effective in alleviating trauma-related symptoms, whether the traumatic event occurred many years ago or yesterday. It often yields desired results with little talking, without the necessity of pharmaceuticals, and does not require “homework” in between sessions.