Eye Movement Desensitization and Processing
Virtual or In-Person EMDR Therapy in Columbus, OH
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a psychotherapy that enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences. EMDR therapy shows that the mind can in fact heal from psychological trauma much as the body recovers from physical trauma.
EMDR therapy is an eight-phase treatment. Eye movements (or other bilateral stimulation) are used during one part of the session. After the client has determined which memory to target first, I will ask the client to hold different aspects of that event or thought in mind while the client holds paddles in their hands that pulsate to a speed of their choice, as they are in their memory.
As this happens, for reasons believed by a Harvard researcher to be connected with the biological mechanisms involved in Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, internal associations arise and the clients begin to process the memory and disturbing feelings.
In successful EMDR therapy, the meaning of painful events is transformed on an emotional level. For instance, a rape victim shifts from feeling horror and self-disgust to holding the firm belief that, “I survived it and I am strong.”
Unlike talk therapy, the insights clients gain in EMDR therapy result not so much from clinician interpretation, but from the client’s own accelerated intellectual and emotional processes. The net effect is that clients conclude EMDR therapy feeling empowered by the very experiences that once debased them.
Their wounds have not just closed, they have transformed. As a natural outcome of the EMDR therapeutic process, the clients’ thoughts, feelings and behavior are all robust indicators of emotional health and resolution—all without speaking in detail or doing homework used in other therapies.
Why do I practice using Eye Movement Desensitization and Processing at Safe Harbour Counseling?
I have seen firsthand how this intervention is successful. I have experienced the treatment myself with past trauma and it worked. I have also witnessed my clients become less agitated and more empowered.
Common Diagnosis’ for EMDR
EMDR was originally discovered to work with clients who have a history of trauma and have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). However over the years it is becoming integrated into treatment for other disorders such as eating disorders, substance abuse disorders, complicated grief, panic disorder, dissociative disorders and many other disorders that have a trauma component associated with them.
I would recommend EMDR to people that have complex trauma, PTSD, were bullied in childhood, abused either emotionally, physically or sexually, and some that have very strong OCD obsessions and compulsions.
What to Expect with EMDR
I always encourage my clients to do research for themselves, which includes watching YouTube sessions as this is a very unique intervention. I then make sure that clients have resources, safe containment places, done by guided imagery, that they can use if they are reacting to their trauma.
I go over 8 steps that include a memory/image the client wants to process, scales on how intense their memory/image is, discussing negative and positive cognitions that they have and would like to achieve. The bilateral stimulation and conducting the scales at the end of the session help to establish our progress.
