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Healing from painful experiences across the lifespan
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a therapy approach that helps with healing from painful experiences across the lifespan, and preparing for a better future. When we experience something deeply threatening, our brain can switch out of its everyday mode into a survival mode. In that state, the memory of the traumatic event can be stored in an unprocessed, chaotic way.
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When this happens, the brain’s usual memory systems do not get to do their job properly. Accessing the memory can then take on intense, uncontrolled qualities, commonly called a flashback. Avoiding reminders of the trauma, feeling emotionally volatile, and feeling distant or more irritable in relationships can all be symptoms of post-traumatic stress.
How EMDR can help
EMDR seems to help the brain process painful past memories in a more controlled way, allowing the memory to be stored properly without overwhelming you in the process. By using certain stimuli, such as eye movements or patterns of tapping, EMDR can support the safe processing of traumatic memories into normal memories. They become still unpleasant, but less intrusive and less in control of your day-to-day life.
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EMDR helps integrate your past, present and future so that past events have less influence on how things feel now, and you can feel more excited about living.
What EMDR with me involves
Having been trained by the EMDR Institute Australia, my approach to EMDR follows their guidelines and advice. This begins with a thorough assessment of painful and difficult past memories and experiences, your current coping abilities and supports, and exercises to enhance your existing coping and your ability to sit with difficult memories.
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We then work together to choose which memories to focus on, and in what order. EMDR processing for your difficult memories proceeds according to this shared plan, with regular check-ins about how you are finding the process and what feels manageable.
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My focus is on keeping sessions calm, collaborative and paced. EMDR can be powerful work, and I take care to make sure that therapy proceeds at a comfortable speed, so you can move towards healing without feeling pushed beyond what feels safe for you.