What Is EMDR and What Does It Do?

EMDR stands for “Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing.” It is a specialized treatment to help those who have suffered trauma and other unpleasant life events become less hindered emotionally, and improve overall life functioning. It has decades of clinical evidence supporting its effectiveness and has been recommended and endorsed by the American Psychological Association, World Health Organization, U.S Department of Veterans Affairs/ Department of Defense, and many others. Although the activity of EMDR is still a question under thorough research scrutiny, it seems to allow for a connection to be established between areas of the brain responsible for memory encoding and consolidation and the prefrontal cortex, which is in charge of executive functions, decision-making, and organization. Through initiating bilateral eye movements (eye movements that cross the midline between the right and left hemispheres of the brain), it is thought that unpleasant memories can be reprocessed and reconsolidated to remove the negative emotional and self-referential beliefs that are often associated with them. In this way, distressing events that seem “frozen in time” and connected with unreasonable and incorrect beliefs can be understood in the context of new insights and stored in long-term memory without the unpleasant sensory elements. It should only be used by fully trained practitioners who have undergone specific training protocols under an EMDRIA-certified EMDR consultant. EMDRIA is the EMDR International Association that maintains the standards and protocols of EMDR use and governs the certification of practitioners. For more information, please go to: https://www.emdria.org/about-emdr-therapy/ Becoming trained in EMDR is a long and highly demanding process, and I bring this extensive expertise to trauma treatment to help clients heal. If you have experienced unpleasant events that cause you distress, avoidance, low self-esteem, excessive guilt, or self-blame, or you generally feel adrift, and lost motivation to live the way you did before, I hope you will take the first step and schedule a consultation with me to discuss a path to healing. Through my EMDR trauma treatment plans, we will create a treatment strategy to help you regain functioning and live a more satisfying life. Let’s discuss today and make a new beginning.