EMDR Therapy for Trauma and PTSD

Any person who has suffered from trauma and/or PTSD can often feel overwhelmed or not know how to seek treatment. One therapy that has proven to be effective in the treatment of trauma is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, also known as EMDR.

This therapy was discovered in 1987 by Dr. Francine Shapiro and she began using it to treat people who suffered from trauma and PTSD. It is now widely used throughout the world to treat many forms of trauma and has been researched extensively.

When a trauma occurs, it seems to get locked in a person’s nervous system and they relive the original images, sounds, thoughts, and feelings of the traumatic event. This locked information can easily be triggered by a particular sound or feeling in the present, that actually happened during the traumatic event in the past. The person will often have very strong and uncomfortable emotions when triggered and not understand “why,” but know they don’t want these intense and scary feelings to continue.

The eye movements or other bilateral stimulation used in EMDR therapy seem to unlock the nervous system and allow the traumatic event to be processed. Your own brain is doing the healing and you are in control of the therapy session. The goal of EMDR is to have a successful session where the person’s memory of the traumatic event no longer causes them all the negative emotions. It’s important to note that EMDR therapy does not erase a person’s memory.

If you wish to learn more about EMDR, please visit www.emdria.org