What is EMDR Therapy & How Does It Work?
Self-improvement is often a daily part of people who want to live the best quality of life after going through a traumatic event. Some people turn to yoga, reading self-improvement books, exercising, mental health counselling, and therapy to bring closure for themselves and deal with the past. Many of these people use different types of therapies to get through a very difficult and challenging situation that will not allow them to move forward in life. EMDR therapy may be one therapy that can help move a person to refocus on something positive. What is EMDR therapy, and how does it work? Discover the answers to your questions and decide if EMDR therapy is for you.
What is EMDR Therapy?
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It is a fairly new psychotherapy technique commonly used to treat people diagnosed with PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder. Ultimately the EMDR therapy is meant to heal people who have been through traumatic events in their life.
It is a traditional view that some psychotherapies take many years to work on people who have been through serious and painful issues. However, EMDR therapy is said to get through to the pain of memories and traumatic events more quickly than traditional therapies.
How Does EMDR Therapy Work?
An EMDR session usually lasts about 90 minutes. A therapist will stand in front of you and move their hand/finger back and forth to see your eye movement. EMDR therapy is created to decrease your emotions and attachment to your traumatic event. Your EMDR therapist will ask you to move your eyes relative to her hand movement and recall a disturbing and traumatic event in your life. As you recall a troubling event, your therapist will work with you to shift your thought process to a better, more pleasing memory. Your therapist may use other parts of the body than finger movement, including hand and toe-tapping and muscle tone.
EMDR therapy is a way to achieve self-improvement and get you back to you living your best life again. Many people who have suffered through a traumatic event often remain stuck in the time period when the event happened. Therapy is often the best way to move past the period and begin healing again. EMDR therapy is meant to provide healing in a faster, more constructive way. An experienced EMDR therapist can get to your pain faster and conjure up the emotions attached to the pain of the event.
Once your emotions have been verbalized, you can begin to deal with resolving the pain and begin to heal. It is a great way to open up to understanding the source of your pain, no matter how long it has been since the traumatic event happened. If you are in need of EMDR therapy, speak with your physician to see if this will be a good fit for your mental health.
Remember to do your homework and choose an EMDR therapist who feels comfortable for you. This is a time for you to delve into your innermost feelings. Having someone who you feel can be trusted is important. Your therapist must be able to answer any questions you may have about the EMDR process.
Inquire about any risks to you or if there is a time limit where you can be brought out of the process. EMDR therapy is new and may or may not work for all people. But it is important to try and do as your therapist asks for the best results. Your therapist is experienced in the technique and will do everything possible to help you deal with the pain from your traumatic event and begin the process of healing. EMDR therapy is a process, which means it will take as long as needed to get you to a better place of quality living. As the memories subside, so will the pain of your traumatic event, allowing you to breathe again and feel good about the space you are in for your future.