What is EMDR?
I am an EMDR Certified Therapist through the EMDR International Association (EMDRIA). This means I have completed all basic training requirements, and advanced certification requirements to received my accreditation as a certified EMDR therapist.
“EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a psychotherapy that enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences. All humans are understood to have a physiologically-based information processing system. When a traumatic or very negative event occurs, information processing may be incomplete, perhaps because strong negative feelings or dissociation interfere with information processing. The memory is then dysfunctionally stored without appropriate associative connections and with many elements still unprocessed. When the individual thinks about the trauma, or when the memory is triggered by similar situations, the person may feel like he/she/they are reliving it, or may experience strong emotions and physical sensations. EMDR can assist to successfully alleviate clinical complaints by processing the components of the contributing distressing memories. Information processing is thought to occur when the targeted memory is linked with other more adaptive information. Learning then takes place, and the experience is stored with appropriate emotions, able to appropriately guide the person in the future” ( retrieved from: https://www.emdr.com/what-is-emdr/)
If you want to learn more, please watch this 10 minute video!!
What kind of issues can EMDR help with?
EMDR is used to treat any major trauma, chronic trauma, abuse, assault, PTSD, experiences of being humiliated, mistreatment from a caregiver, disturbing memories or images, nightmares, flashbacks, and much more.
How do I know if it will work?
“More than 30 positive controlled outcome studies have been done on EMDR therapy. Some of the studies show that 84%-90% of single-trauma victims no longer have post-traumatic stress disorder after only three 90-minute sessions. Another study, funded by the HMO Kaiser Permanente, found that 100% of the single-trauma victims and 77% of multiple trauma victims no longer were diagnosed with PTSD after only six 50-minute sessions. In another study, 77% of combat veterans were free of PTSD in 12 sessions. There has been so much research on EMDR therapy that it is now recognized as an effective form of treatment for trauma and other disturbing experiences by organizations such as the American Psychiatric Association, the World Health Organization and the Department of Defense” ( retrieved from: https://www.emdr.com/what-is-emdr/).
If you are interested in learning if EMDR is right for you, please contact me.