Healing Through EMDR

“Let there be an opening into the quiet that lies beneath the chaos,
where you find peace you did not think possible and see what shimmers within the storm.”
–John O’Donohue

Frightened and frozen: The abyss separating you from the life you want to live…

Do traumatic memories plague your days?

Your mind battles these memories with fierce anxiety, frightened by reoccurring thoughts that trigger panic.

Abuse and neglect in childhood are affecting your relationships.

Witnessing or experiencing terrible violence, none of which was a fault of your own, left its impact.

Experiencing the tragic and sudden loss of a loved one, repeatedly asking yourself, “What could I have done?”

With no control, your home is threatened by a natural disaster. Without warning, you’ve lost everything.

Does your past keep showing up in startling or unsettling ways?

You lie awake each night, afraid to go to sleep – terrified of the intrusive night terrors waking up unable to breathe.

Each morning begins with the same familiar pattern; anger gets you through it, but emotional paralysis keeps you stuck.

Make the coffee. Take a shower. Turn the key. Your entire being sits idle.

Are there times when your entire body is immobilized with heaviness and pressure?

Your body is moving, but your heart feels like a 50-pound weight. It’s getting harder to feel emotions, to connect, to trust. You’ve stopped going to work, avoided gatherings with friends, even decided not to watch your favorite Netflix shows. The pain is too great, and the burdened heaviness continues to grow.

Where have you gone?

Have anxiety and depression found a home in your soul as your heart surrenders to the all-consuming pain?

When anxiety and depression take hold, they often may result from trauma. Trauma affects the nervous system so deeply that it inhibits your ability to function. Feelings of anger, sadness, and hopelessness dominate your days. Concentrating on even simple tasks is nearly impossible. You lose interest in activities you once loved, and you rarely find yourself happy and at peace.

You may have sought treatment for anxiety or depression, even found it helpful, but the painful symptoms persist. You feel in your heart, something is still missing.

Being trapped in an emotional, physical, and psychological prison…

The walls bar your emotions.

Emptiness represents your physical body, with no room to navigate a way out.

Powerlessness has found a home in your mind. You notice a lock and key on the cell but lack the motivation to escape.

Trapped, you realize that now is the time to break free. It’s time for things to change, but…

EMDR is an 8-phase treatment for healing trauma.

Trauma is experienced in many forms, from anxiety to severe post-traumatic stress, affecting your brain in significant ways.

When disturbing and painful memories fire and wire together, they can hinder your nervous system’s ability to heal, creating a glaring disconnect in your mind, body, and heart.

When our bodies experience a physical wound, it attempts to heal itself. Sometimes, that wound is so severe it requires stitches or medical attention. The same is true for trauma and our nervous system. EMDR becomes the equivalent of stitches or medical intervention to our nervous system.

EMDR, or eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing, is a therapeutic technique that targets trauma by working to unhinge the ‘stuck’ areas in your brain so that new, positive experiences can move in and create space for more adaptive memories.

Along the way, you’ll learn valuable mindfulness and relaxation skills to reconnect with your body. As you experience bi-lateral stimulation with your eyes, buzzers, or hands, energy will begin to move, and your brain will ignite the healing process. We’ll work diligently to assess for any residual symptoms and ensure that you get back to feeling like you again.

For further details and information regarding EMDR and its treatment, please visit https://www.emdria.org/about-emdr-therapy/.