If you’ve been living with the effects of past trauma, you might be desperate to find relief. Yet certain factors may be holding you back from seeking therapy. You might be hesitant to spend lots of time talking about your experiences. Or you might be suspicious that talk therapy would bring many benefits for you because your symptoms seem so physical.
If you relate to these concerns, you might be a good candidate for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy, or EMDR. In EMDR sessions, your therapist uses bilateral stimulation like finger movements to help you identify triggers and reprocess traumatic memories. You’ll also let go of negative emotional associations with these memories and develop new, more positive beliefs. Here’s how EMDR can alleviate your trauma symptoms.
Healing Without Retraumatizing
For some people, talking about their traumatic memories in therapy can be extremely difficult. While sharing your past can be freeing, it can also be painful to dredge up these old experiences again.
Many people find that it’s easier to approach EMDR therapy without these same fears of being retraumatized because clients simply don’t have to spend much time talking about the specific details of their trauma. While the therapist does have to conduct a history-taking session, this form of treatment does not involve as much verbal reflecting on past trauma.
Address Traumatic Physical Effects
Trauma is stored in the body. This means that if you’re exposed to a trigger, your body can react to situations as though you’re re-experiencing the traumatic event. Your nervous system tells your body to react as a protective mechanism. In order to get past this, you need to process any lingering trauma that your body has held on to. In EMDR therapy, your therapist will lead you through a body scan to address any physical discomfort you feel when thinking about your past trauma.
Reduce Traumatic Reactions
In some ways, EMDR is similar to exposure therapy. Although your therapist will not physically expose you to situations that remind you of your trauma, you will spend a lot of time “exposing” yourself to those memories. With guidance from your therapist, you will gradually notice that your emotional reactions to these memories are no longer so strong and discomforting. Through exposure, you can actually eliminate your negative reactions altogether.
Return To Equilibrium
When your therapist is using bilateral stimulation to help you process traumatic memories, they will help you return to a state of emotional equilibrium after a session. If you’re distressed, they can guide you as you calm down. This is an important skill that you can use outside of sessions in your everyday life. When you feel upset after being exposed to a trigger, you can utilize the same techniques that your therapist walked you through in order to come back to a state of equilibrium.
Develop New Beliefs
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, has a strong influence on EMDR therapy. In CBT, people break down their negative beliefs and analyze the root causes of these thought patterns. They also focus on building up new thought patterns that better serve them. An EMDR therapist helps their client with similar tasks. Through EMDR, clients can step back and evaluate the negative associations that they have held on to because of their trauma. Their therapist can help them start developing new neutral or even positive associations. It’s a natural way of rewriting your thought patterns to cultivate a more positive outlook.
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Are you interested in the benefits of EMDR? It may be time to work with a therapist. Contact us today to discuss your options for scheduling your first session.
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