by Donje Swanson, LPC, NCC
Trauma can be any life experience that creates an ongoing impact on one’s life. Sometimes events happen in a person’s life and he/she struggles to find a way to integrate that incident. That event can become an unprocessed memory and get stored in the brain creating symptoms that are uncomfortable. Physical sensations, emotions, thoughts, and images associated with the event can get locked into the brain, and without treatment, may lead to distressing symptoms and behaviors.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy is a comprehensive therapy approach that reorganizes thoughts, feelings and memories that are related to those experiences that they keep getting stuck by negative, stressful or traumatic experiences.
Eye movements stimulate a myriad of happenings in the brain that ultimately facilitate the reorganization of traumatic or disruptive memories or self-beliefs. For single incident traumas, in a person with a stable background and healthy relationships, the length of treatment with EMDR therapy could only be a few sessions. However, if there is a history of trauma, stressful early relationships or conflict and developmental disruption, EMDR therapy could take longer.
EMDR therapy allows the client to let go of the pattern of circular thinking and anxious worry
that often accompanies traumatic memories. Through the process of many different shifts that take place during EMDR therapy, clients
feel lighter than they did prior to the therapy. They feel they can let go of the weight of the sad or anxiety provoking memory and move forward in their life. Some describe it as feeling that the memory is more distant, not erased or gone, but as no longer having a foothold in their life.
Clients gain more positive beliefs about themselves that are applicable to a broad spectrum of experiences in life. EMDR therapy affects not only the resolution of the traumatic memory, but also the perspective one has about themselves. This impacts relationships, life perspective, behavioral choices and more. It can improve motivation, mood and confidence. Traumatic experiences, be they large or small, have a tremendous impact on our internal dialogue. Most, if not all, of our negative self-beliefs are derived from challenges, poor relationships, conflict, lack of connection to significant others, or traumatic situations or events. By working through these things with EMDR therapy, the negative dialogue changes, which in turn, changes the experience one has with the world.
No matter how big or little your trauma may be, it is most likely having a negative impact on your well-being. Addressing the trauma can be a challenging thing to do, and it might be the bravest thing you ever do in your life. As a trained EMDR therapist, I can help you overcome your struggles and provide a way to a healthier lifestyle.