EMDR Therapy
Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing, or as it is sometimes abbreviated, EMDR Therapy, is an innovative, structured type of psychotherapy used to treat clients who need to heal from traumatic experiences. According to Barbara E. Doak, an LCSW providing online services to Connecticut clients including in Ashford, Hartford, and Manchester, EMDR Therapy was introduced in the late 1980s and involves moving your eyes a specific way while you process traumatic memories. We offer it online through the Bilateral Base app.
How Does EMDR Work?
Eye movements that resemble those made during Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, are recreated under the therapist’s direction during a session. The movements may follow a moving light or simply a therapist’s finger moving slowly back and forth. After a short time, you can then reflect on your experiences regarding thoughts, images, and feelings.
With repeated sets and sessions, memories begin to reformulate and take a neutral stance –with the painful memory losing its effect and intensity in the process. EMDR can be brief and offered as a single, focused treatment or integrated into a longer treatment plan.
How Can EMDR Therapy Help You?
The essential basis of EMDR therapy is to help clients work through unprocessed trauma that, for some reason, has hit a psychological loop without an exit ramp. Untreated, these unprocessed traumatic memories come back often and cause a wide array of emotional and psychological difficulties.
EMDR therapy focuses directly on the traumatic memory. The intent is to alter the way you store the traumatic memory in your brain by relying on the brain’s natural capacity to heal itself and process traumatic experiences.
EMDR Therapy is unlike other more traditional approaches that focus on understanding how traumatic memories influence our behavior. The process offers the possibility of accelerating the results of therapy as past traumas become resolved and allows a client to live more peacefully in the present moment.
This method has helped clients recover from symptoms related to previous trauma and PTSD. EMDR Therapy is an effective method of treatment for –
- Anxiety/Panic Attacks.
- Depression.
- Grief/Loss.
- OCD.
- Sleep Disturbances.
- Chronic Pain.
- Addiction or Substance Abuse.
- Performance Anxiety.
- Other distressing life experiences.
EMDR, which was initially introduced to treat PTSD specifically, has recently gained popularity for its effectiveness in healing trauma. As a therapeutic approach, EMDR therapy has been comprehensively and extensively established by rigorous research.
Contact a Leading Therapist Serving Online Clients in Ashford, Hartford, and Manchester, CT.
For more information regarding Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR Therapy) and other therapeutic options, contact Barbara E. Doak, LCSW, who is Certified by the Connecticut Certification Board as a Co-Occurring Disorder Professional Diplomat. This service is provided online for Connecticut clients through Bilateral Base, a secure platform devoted to professional EMDR delivery.