SERVICES
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an evidence-based psychotherapy for psychiatric disorders, mental health problems, and somatic symptoms. It is most frequently used to address trauma. This approach targets past experiences, negative core beliefs (“I’m not good enough”, “I don’t matter”), current triggers, and future potential challenges. Overwhelming and distressing events can cause the brain to malfunction. Information gets frozen and stuck in the implicit (unconscious) memory systems. EMDR uses bilateral stimulation – visual (light bar), auditory (beeping in headphones), and tactile (hand pulsators) – to facilitate information reprocessing to the adaptive and more functional areas of the brain. The stuck memories loosen up and are reconfigured and rebalanced in the brain. The negative core beliefs shift into positive adaptive beliefs, symptoms subside, and the past is no longer intruding on the present.
EMDR involves much less talking than conventional psychotherapy, and there is no requirement to talk about distressing events in detail if you don’t want to. EMDR activates thoughts, feelings, images, memories, and body sensations. Sometimes you may experience all of these things. Sometimes you may experience a string of thoughts and then a memory and then some feelings. You do not need to understand what is going on or to remember it. Your job is to be a passive vessel and to allow whatever is happening to happen. I will jump in and out to help you process.
It is important to note that every human being experiences some kind of trauma. When people hear about “trauma”, most usually think of severe life-threatening experiences such rape, physical abuse, combat, etc. These traumas are called big “T” trauma and are most commonly associated with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Little “t” traumas are distressing events that cause significant emotional damage but are not life threatening. Big “T” trauma tends to negatively impact our sense of safety in the world, whereas little “t” trauma negatively impacts our sense of self.
But both big “T” and little “t” traumas can have similar effects on memory and emotional systems of the brain. Most people don’t realize that Little “t” traumas can sometimes cause more emotional harm than big “T” and are often minimized. Little “t” traumas get overlooked and are frequently a source of shame. Ultimately, any event or ongoing situation that causes distress, fear, and/or a sense of helplessness qualifies as trauma. And what is highly distressing to one person may not cause the same emotional response in someone else. The key to understanding the little “t” trauma is to examine how it affects the individual rather than focusing on the event itself. The goal of EMDR is to help you heal from trauma and other distressing life events.
©2024 - Lauren DeRossette Counseling
