Online Counselling, Psychotherapy and Imago Relationship Therapy

Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), is a trauma therapy, recommended for people who are struggling with traumatic experiences from the past, which still feel current, and are easily triggered. Instead of being stored as the past, unprocessed trauma can feel ever present, controlling our emotions, our thoughts, and our actions, and severley undermining our ability to engage in day to day life.

For instance, have you ever blown up at your partner and later realised that it wasn't about them, but rather who they reminded you of in that moment? Have you ever found yourself feeling scared and hypervigilant, even when you understood that you were safe in every way? Perhaps it was their tone of voice, a facial expression, or a scent, whatever it was, before you realised, you were reacting. When we are reacting, be that a screaming match (fighting), trying to get away (flight), freezing, or appeasing, we don't always understand what is happening, and even when we do, understanding is not always enough to break free, and this is where EMDR can help.

The best known part of EMDR therapy is called bilateral stimulation (BLS), people often know about the eye movements, but we can also use alternate tapping on the body, and alternating sound using headphones. Bilateral stimulation, keeps you in the present, whilst your mind and body process the past. This processing is called Adaptive Information Processing, or AIP, and involves much less speaking than traditional talking therapy. EMDR processing allows the space to be present, to notice your responses, discover any earlier examples of the trauma, and to uncover any other experiences that may have become associated the trauma.

When trauma is processed using EMDR, your memories will not change, and neither will the event. What can change, is how you feel and think about the experience, about yourself, and about others.