EMDR Therapy

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an extensively researched and effective psychotherapy method proven to help people recover from trauma and other distressing life experiences.

EMDR therapy works to connect the memory to what’s called the “adaptive neural network.” Because traumatic memories are stored in their own encapsulated neural networks in the brain, these memories become “stuck”, resulting in high levels of anxiety, fear, and distress when the memory becomes triggered. Stress responses are part of our natural fight, flight, or freeze instincts. When distress from a disturbing event remains, the upsetting images, thoughts, and emotions may create an overwhelming feeling of being back in that moment, or of being “frozen in time.”

Fortunately, our brains have a natural way to recover from traumatic memories and events. This process involves communication between the amygdala (the alarm signal for stressful events), the hippocampus (which assists with learning, including memories about safety and danger), and the prefrontal cortex (which analyzes and controls behavior and emotion). While many times traumatic experiences can be managed and resolved spontaneously, other times they cannot be effectively processed without help.

EMDR therapy helps the brain process these memories, and allows normal healing to resume. The memories don’t go away, but the fight, flight, or freeze response from the original event is resolved. This helps the memory become part of a narrative memory with less visceral activation and power over someone’s system.