Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing

Why choose EMDR?

For most people, memories tend to be stored as just the story of what happened with the potential of vivid images. Memories for stressful and traumatic experiences can be stored improperly in the brain with vivid pictures, sounds, thoughts, feelings and body sensations causing discomfort when recalled without choice. EMDR reprocessing reactivates these different parts of disturbing memory networks and allows the brain to reprocess and properly store the experience.

This is similar to taking emotional memories out of the limbic system (Hypothalamus) and filing memories correctly in a controlled memory recall location in the prefrontal cortex (Shapiro, 2018). This is what normally happens slowly in REM or dream sleep. That is why we can wake up feeling differently about experiences from the day before that were still upsetting when we went to sleep. The alternating eye movements (tones, tactile stimulation) that we use in EMDR Therapy, called bilateral stimulation, help the brain to reprocess the way information is stored in the brain. It is using your brain’s own ability to heal that will be doing all the work. Liz ensures that EMDR work is conducted with all of the appropriate safety measures in place to ensure the experiences is gentle and as comfortable as possible. With younger children, often parents will be present to help.