Gina Lawrence MSE LPC
Licensed Professional Counselor
In Oregon Call: (541) 248-6545
In Texas & Florida Call: (832) 720-7995
What is EMDR
EMDR is an evidenced based therapy that allows us a way to reconnect our body and brain, ultimately providing ourselves an avenue to reprocess disturbing thoughts and memories and decrease overall distress.
Who EMDR Can Help
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy is a structured psychotherapy designed to help people heal from the distress caused by traumatic or disturbing life experiences. It works by using guided bilateral stimulation, often in the form of eye movements, while the client focuses on the memory of the upsetting event. This process helps the brain reprocess the memory, much like during REM sleep, allowing the client to process the past in a less intense way, reduce negative thoughts, and develop more positive beliefs about themselves and the experience.
EMDR is a recognized effective treatment for trauma and is recommended by organizations like the American Psychiatric Association and the World Health Organization. It can be helpful for people dealing with:
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Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
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Other disturbing life experiences that continue to affect them
How EMDR Works
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Focus on the Memory: The therapist guides you to focus on a specific upsetting memory, including any related thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations.
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Bilateral Stimulation: While focusing on the memory, the therapist uses bilateral stimulation to engage both sides of the brain. This can be done through:
(a) Eye Movements: Following the therapist's fingers or a light back and forth.
(b) Auditory Stimuli: Alternating sounds heard through headphones.
(c) Tapping: Tapping on alternating sides of the body. -
Reprocessing and Integration: The goal of this dual focus is to allow the brain to process the "stuck" information from the past event.
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Reduced Distress: Over time, the memory becomes less vivid and the associated emotions become less distressing, allowing for new, more positive perspectives to emerge.
Why is this treatment used
EMDR therapy doesn’t require talking in detail about a distressing issue. EMDR instead focuses on changing the emotions, thoughts or behaviors that result from a distressing experience (trauma). This allows your brain to resume a natural healing process. While many people use the words “mind” and “brain” when referring to the same thing, they’re actually different. Your brain is an organ of your body. Your mind is the collection of thoughts, memories, beliefs and experiences that make you who you are.
The way your mind works relies on the structure of your brain. That structure involves networks of communicating brain cells across many different areas. That’s especially the case with sections that involve your memories and senses. That networking makes it faster and easier for those areas to work together. That’s why your senses — sights, sounds, smells, tastes and feels — can bring back strong memories.
What does EMDR therapy involve?
The eight phases of EMDR therapy provide a framework to understand the treatment process. They act as a map for the EMDR therapist to follow. The names of the eight phases describe what happens during each phase and each phase focuses on a particular aspect of treatment. All eight phases contribute to the overall effect of EMDR therapy, however, not all phases may be used in one EMDR therapy session.
The eight phases of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy are History Taking and Treatment Planning, Preparation, Assessment, Desensitization, Installation, Body Scan, Closure, and Reevaluation. These phases involve building a therapeutic alliance, teaching coping skills, targeting specific distressing memories, using bilateral stimulation to reprocess them, strengthening positive beliefs, addressing physical sensations, ending sessions safely, and reviewing progress over time.
Sometimes an experience is simply too large, painful, or shocking for a person to process by themselves. So, a therapist can help ‘reprocess’ this experience with EMDR therapy. Maybe the experience reminds a person of similar negative experiences that have occurred in the past. The experience is overwhelming or traumatic. This is when EMDR therapy can be used to jump-start our natural processing system. EMDR therapy allows the overwhelming experiences to ‘reprocess’ until they no longer feel disturbing. The eight phases of EMDR therapy provide the map to guide treatment.
