Benefits of EMDR:

  • Trauma Resolution: Effective for PTSD, childhood abuse or single-incident trauma

  • Reduced Emotional Distress: Lessens the intensity of distressing emotions tied to past experiences.

  • Improved Self-Perception: Helps clients develop healthier beliefs about themselves.

  1. Application Beyond Trauma: Useful for anxiety, depression, grief, phobias, and performance enhancement.

What Clients Can Expect:

  • Controlled and Safe Environment: EMDR sessions proceed at a pace that feels comfortable for the client.

  • Activation of Difficult Emotions: Processing may initially bring up intense feelings, but this is part of the healing process.

  • Short-Term and Long-Term Gains: Clients often experience relief after several sessions, with lasting improvements over time.

Misconceptions about EMDR:

  • Not Hypnosis: Clients remain fully conscious and in control during sessions.

  • Not a Quick Fix: While EMDR can work faster than traditional talk therapy, the pace varies depending on the individual.

  • Does Not Erase Memories: It reframes the emotional response to memories, reducing their intensity.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

EMDR assists in the reprocessing of challenging, painful, and traumatic memories, emotions, and experiences by addressing the fight, flight, or freeze response associated with the original event or memory. This is achieved through a gentle process that incorporates mindfulness, visualization, exploration of core beliefs, and the integration of new adaptive beliefs to help clients rewire or "re-record" memories.

Attachment-based EMDR combines the principles of attachment theory with EMDR to help clients heal relational wounds and address trauma that impacts their ability to form secure attachments. This approach focuses on understanding how early attachment experiences shape one's sense of self, relationships, and emotional responses.

This method emphasizes identifying and processing past attachment injuries—such as neglect, abandonment, or inconsistent caregiving—that may have created patterns of insecurity or fear in relationships. During therapy, the therapist uses EMDR’s bilateral stimulation (such as eye movements, tapping, or sounds) to help the client reprocess distressing memories and negative beliefs related to attachment.

By addressing these core attachment issues, attachment-based EMDR fosters the development of more secure attachment patterns, promotes emotional regulation, and enhances the client’s ability to connect with others in healthy, supportive ways. This method is particularly effective for clients with relational trauma, attachment disorders, and those who struggle with forming or maintaining healthy relationships.

How EMDR Works:

Memory Processing: EMDR helps reprocess distressing memories, shifting them from being emotionally overwhelming to more manageable and adaptive.

Bilateral Stimulation (BLS): Techniques such as guided eye movements, tapping, or auditory tones activate both hemispheres of the brain. This facilitates the brain's natural healing process, similar to what occurs during REM sleep.

Adaptive Information Processing Model (AIP): EMDR is based on the AIP model, which suggests that trauma can block the brain’s ability to process experiences effectively. EMDR helps unlock these blocks to integrate and resolve difficult memories.

EMDR Process

1. Foundation Building for EMDR: First, we establish a foundation for EMDR by creating a calm and safe space to activate the parasympathetic nervous system. This involves utilizing mindfulness, visualization/active imagination, adopting a new adaptive belief (mantra), and incorporating bilateral stimulation (tapping on the arms, chest, or legs) to craft a safe environment. This safe space becomes a key element when re-creating the new "recorded" memory.

2. Identifying Negative Core Beliefs: We pinpoint the negative core beliefs that we aim to address (e.g., "I am a failure," "I am not enough," "I am a disappointment," "I can't survive," etc.). Identifying the core beliefs that resonate with you, we work collaboratively to navigate through them.

3. Reprocessing Memories: We identify a recent or past experience/memory linked to the chosen negative core belief and initiate the reprocessing through bilateral stimulation (tapping), mindfulness, using your safe space, and accessing unconscious material. This process provides an opportunity for safe reprocessing, allowing the memory to be re-recorded differently. As a result, when the memory is triggered by a present experience, it is less charged and prominent in the nervous system, facilitating an adaptive response in the present.

4. Continual Growth: Clients often identify and anchor a new positive, adaptive belief or resource that emerges during the reprocessing work. This resource serves as a tool to reinforce the progress made in the session and continue the rewiring process independently. The client is encouraged to practice connecting with this resource in their daily life, fostering a sense of empowerment, resilience, and emotional regulation between sessions. This ongoing practice helps solidify neural pathways associated with positive, adaptive beliefs, supporting long-term healing and growth.