EMDR

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a therapy that uses eye movement to activate both hemispheres of the brain to help re-process trauma, difficult memories, and more.

We hear the word “trauma” used a lot these days, but what actually is trauma?

Trauma is not the actual event or situation that happened, trauma is your mind and body’s struggle to process any traumatic event or situation.

When something becomes too overwhelming for us to handle, we move into survival mode, and the hemispheres of the brain and the body split from one another to avoid complete shutdown. We are wired to work this way!

However, after the event is over, the two hemispheres and the body don’t all come back online to process the event in the same way which is why some people can speak about an event with no emotion, but may have emotional outbursts or flashbacks without being able to verbalize the experience. Essentially, the left hemisphere of your brain holds the story, the right hemisphere holds the emotion and your brain doesn’t know how to file this experience away as something in the past so we continue to experience it as a present threat.

The process of EMDR gently calls back the emotions and images while using eye movement to stimulate both hemispheres of the brain (and in my opinion, the body as well) so that your brain and body know how to process the experience and understand it is in the past. EMDR does not aim to erase the memory (This isn’t Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), but instead aims to reduce the present distress associated with the memory.

EMDR can help shift stuck emotions, memories, images and even help release things you didn’t know needed to move.