the Well, PLLC
EMDR Therapy for Trauma + PTSD
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a type of therapy designed to help people heal from distressing or traumatic experiences. In EMDR, the therapist guides you to revisit difficult memories while engaging in bilateral stimulation (like eye movement, sound, or vibration). This process helps the brain reprocess the memory so it feels less overwhelming and less disruptive to overall functioning.
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EMDR is most often used for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but it can also be helpful for anxiety, phobias, complicated grief, and other issues where past experiences continue to trigger strong emotional reactions.
HOW IT HELPS
EMDR helps people process traumatic memories by engaging their minds in a unique way—typically using bilateral stimulation like guided eye movements, taps, or tones—which enables painful memories to be reprocessed and integrated more adaptively. As clients reprocess these memories, their emotional responses shift dramatically: distress diminishes, negative self-beliefs are replaced with empowering ones (e.g., transforming from “I’m helpless” to “I survived and I am strong”), and physiological arousal decreases. The technique accelerates emotional healing, often producing profound cognitive and emotional insights directly from the client’s internal processing rather than therapist interpretation. Ultimately, clients emerge from EMDR therapy feeling emotionally empowered and transformed, with thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that reflect healthier functioning—even without detailed discussion or homework typical of other therapies.
LEARN MORE ABOUT EMDR
