ABOUT EMDR
and How it Can Help
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy. It’s a therapeutic model that can be highly effective for those who have experienced trauma.
EMDR therapy works on the premise that our emotional well-being is tied to our physical (somatic) state. Therefore, EMDR employs a body-based therapy technique called bilateral simulation.
During bilateral simulation, a therapist will guide a client through eye movements, tones, or taps in order to access and move a memory that’s been incorrectly stored to a more functional part of the brain. When we experience trauma, our brain may process and store memories incorrectly. ​
This incorrect storage can lead to past memories influencing our feelings and behaviors in the present. Related or unrelated stimuli in the present can lead clients to react as they did at the time of the initial trauma because the brain feels as if the past disturbing event is currently underway.
EMDR therapy helps address this inaccurate storage issue so that the painful memories associated with past trauma lose their emotional charge. Once this happens, clients can react to stimuli in the present without the past interfering.