Fort Collins, Colorado EMDR Therapy

What is EMDR?

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is a well-researched evidence based treatment that is used to help people heal from and move past trauma.

When you experience a traumatic or stressful event, your brain has a difficult time storing the memory “correctly” due to the high stress of the situation. Rather than the memory being able to be stored as an event that occurred in the past, your brain stores the memory in a way that makes you feel as though the danger is in the present—hence the likelihood of experiencing triggers, flashbacks, panic, and feeling “on guard” all the time. You may feel that it is difficult to not think about the traumatic memories and it could even feel like you re-live the memories frequently. EMDR therapy helps your brain process the memories and thoughts so they will be stored in the past completely, and it helps to decrease negative beliefs that may have been created through the traumatic experience.

What is a session like?

First, you and I will take time to prepare for the EMDR therapy sessions by talking about the present problems or symptoms you wish to address. We will also discuss the traumatic event(s) that we will target with our sessions. This is called the “history taking” process. During this process we will identify the negative thoughts, emotions and physical feelings that are connected to the experience of the traumatic event(s).

During the EMDR therapy sessions, I will briefly have you focus on the thoughts, feelings, images and sensations that surround the memory or issue. While you notice all this, we will be using bilateral stimulation (audio tones, eye movements, or tapping that goes back and forth from left to right). This is sort of like REM sleep and helps the brain to reprocess and store the event and everything associated with it in the “correct” part of the brain. It is also helpful in allowing for new ways of thinking about the memory and yourself. By the end of the EMDR therapy process, the emotional and physical charge that was initially there every time you thought about the memory, should be greatly diminished.

Ready to take the next step or learn more?

Check out this Introduction to EMDR therapy video below for more info or contact me for a free 15-minute phone consultation to decide if EMDR therapy is your next step towards healing.

Request Appointment

FAQs

  • EMDR is a unique type of therapy. It is not like the traditional “talk therapy” in that it is very structured and does not require a lot of talking about details of trauma. EMDR therapy includes eight phases:

    1) History Taking and Treatment Planning

    2) Preparation

    3) Assessment

    4) Desensitization

    5) Installation

    6) Body Scan

    7) Closure

    8) Reevaluation

    Check out the video here for more information.

  • EMDR is widely known for helping people heal from traumatic experiences. It can help people with:

    Anxiety/panic attacks

    Chronic Illness

    Depression and bipolar disorders

    Eating disorders

    Grief and loss

    Pain

    Performance anxiety

    Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other trauma and stress-related issues

    Sexual assault

    Sleep disturbance

    Substance abuse and addiction

    Violence and abuse

    Etc

  • Most of the time our brains recover from experiences without additional help, but sometimes situation are so traumatic or charged that our brain’s natural ability to recover is disrupted.

    When we experience intense stress, sometimes the communication between the amygdala, the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex does not occur the way it is meant to. This can create a sense of being “stuck” in the trauma response. It is also responsible for the experience of flashbacks (or feeling as though you are reliving a traumatic situation).

    EMDR therapy assists the brain in processing the memories and allows the brain’s natural healing mechanisms to kick back into action. By engaging in EMDR, the “charge” that accompanied the traumatic memory should be gone, though the memory will remain. This means that the intense reaction to the memory or triggers of the event should no longer cause a flight or fight or freeze reaction.