What is EMDR?
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy. It is a therapy model that has been proven to be highly effective for those who have experienced both small and big traumas.
EMDR therapy is founded on the basis that our emotional well-being is interwoven with our somatic, or physical, state. Because of this, EMDR employs a body-based technique called bilateral stimulation. During trauma our brain processes and stores memories incorrectly. This incorrect storage can lead to past memories feeling very present, for example if you’ve been stung by a bee you react strongly to bees flying around you on a sunny summer day. Related or unrelated stimuli in the present can lead to you to react as they did at the time of trauma, or based on our example seeing or hearing an insect that might resemble a bee. The brain feels if the past disturbing event is happening currently.
EMDR therapy corrects this mis-storage so that the painful memories associated with the trauma lose their charge or intensity.The client can react to stimuli in the present without the past trauma being triggered. During EMDR the therapist will guide a client through eye movements, tones, or taps in order to move a memory that has been incorrectly stored to a more functional part of the brain.
