What is EMDR Therapy?
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) is an evidence based therapy that has been in use for over 25 years. It uses a natural function of the body, rapid eye movement (or REM) as its basis. The human mind uses REM during sleep time to help its process daily emotional experiences. When trauma is extreme, this process breaks down and REM sleep doesn’t bring the usual relief from distress.
How does it work?
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EMDR helps people process and resolve disturbing and distressing memories from past traumas they have experienced using Bilateral Stimulation (BLS) (e.g. moving their eyes back and forth following the movement of the therapist’s fingers, tapping their knees or using sound) to mimick REM sleep.
When disturbing experiences happen, they are stored in the brain with all the sights, sounds, thoughts and feelings that accompany them. If these are not processed properly, it can feel as real to the person as the day it happened leading to a dysfunction in the person's everyday life.
EMDR helps in 2 ways. It assists in 'unlocking' the negative emotions and memories and helps the brain to process the exprerience. EMDR helps the memories and feelings to be re-experienced in a new way.
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What can I use EMDR for?
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EMDR can be used for many concerns such as:
-Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Complex Trauma
- Childhood Trauma
- Vehicle Accidents
- Phobias
- Anxiety/ Panic Attacks
- Depression