6 Benefits of EMDR Therapy
6 Benefits of EMDR Therapy. EMDR Therapy is an incredibly effective integrative psychotherapy that helps individuals heal from trauma.
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EMDR Therapy
Are you feeling discouraged believing that you'll never feel relief
from your trauma, anxiety, or depression?
Have you already spent years in "talk therapy" and
your life still doesn't feel satisfying?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy may help.
What is EMDR Therapy?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an extensively researched, effective psychotherapy method proven to help people recover from trauma and other distressing life experiences, including PTSD, anxiety, depression, and grief and loss.
How is EMDR therapy different from other therapies?
EMDR Therapy does not require clients to talk in great detail about the distressing issue or to complete homework between sessions. EMDR Therapy. Rather than focusing on changing the emotions, thoughts, or behaviors resulting from the distressing issue as in Cognitive Behavior Therapy, EMDR allows the brain to resume its natural healing process. EMDR therapy is designed to resolve unprocessed traumatic memories in the brain. For many clients, EMDR therapy can be completed in fewer sessions than other traditional "talk" therapies. Learn more about what to expect in an EMDR Therapy session.
How does EMDR therapy affect the brain?
We know that our brains have a natural way of making sense of traumatic memories and events. While many times traumatic experiences can be managed and resolved spontaneously, they may not be processed without help. This is because oftentimes the traumatic experience overwhelmed our brain's ability to process the experience at the time. For example, if the trauma occurred during childhood, we felt helpless during the traumatic experience, or we were unable to affect change or the outcome of the experience.
Stress responses are part of our natural fight, flight, or freeze instincts. When distress from a disturbing event remains, the upsetting images, thoughts, and emotions may create an overwhelming feeling of being back in that moment, or of being “frozen in time.” EMDR therapy helps the brain process these memories and allows normal healing to resume. The experience is still remembered, but the fight, flight, or freeze response from the original event is reduced or resolved.
Can EMDR cure trauma?
EMDR is not a miracle cure for trauma and it does not claim to be. It is, however, very effective in reducing the stress response associated with trauma. It can jump-start the healing process in a way that traditional talk therapy may never be able to. It helps to calm the stress response enough so that the thinking part of our brain can process the experience. There is still a need for ongoing therapy to help trauma survivors make sense of their world, themselves, and others. The healing journey is often started with EMDR, for many, however, it does not end with EMDR.
Who can benefit from EMDR therapy?
EMDR has been shown to be effective in addressing a wide range of challenges:
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Anxiety, panic attacks, and phobias
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Chronic Illness and medical issues
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Depression
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Grief and loss
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Pain
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Performance anxiety
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Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other trauma and stress-related issues
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Sexual assault
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Sleep disturbance
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Violence and abuse
We'll help you through this process, tailoring each step to your unique needs and circumstances. EMDR can help you begin your healing journey so that you can experience transformation and growth. Read more about the benefits of EMDR here.
As EMDR-trained and certified clinicians trained in somatic and attachment-focused EMDR, we believe in clinical excellence.
By providing attachment-focused EMDR along with advanced psychotherapy methods (e.g. polyvagal theory, attachment theory, neuroscience, CBT, ego states, somatic experiencing), we partner to:
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Discover the origins of limiting beliefs in order to update old narratives about how you get to show up in the world, who you are, and what you deserve
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Alleviate anxiety, depression, and trauma symptoms through a positive, growth-oriented process grounded in the philosophy that everyone is seeking wholeness
Our passion is utilizing the powerful benefits of EMDR with clients who are ready to live without anxiety, depression, dissociation, phobias, addiction, and post-traumatic stress. Learn more about why EMDR is effective at treating trauma in our blog post.
We support clients in Illinois in two formats: (1) Adjunct EMDR therapy and (2) typical weekly individual therapy.
EMDR as Adjunct Therapy
Partnering with your Primary Therapist
Why should I add EMDR to my therapy?
We’ve all had those moments in therapy where we feel stuck or loop on issues related to negative life experiences. It can be discouraging for both the client and the therapist. Oftentimes, when the primary therapist and client collaborate with an EMDR therapist, this partnership can help move treatment forward. Perhaps you’ve had a felt sense that something profound has yet to change, but you’re not quite sure how to shift all the way into a new experience of yourself with your current therapist. Maybe
you now cognitively understand new things, yet your body is still confused, so you’re curious about how adjunct EMDR therapy can help.
How does adjunct EMDR work?
We partner with primary therapists and their clients to target their clients’ specific memories, body sensations, or limiting beliefs with EMDR. By narrowly targeting specific traumatic memories or intrusive material, brief adjunct EMDR can accelerate progress in traditional therapy, help the client and the primary therapist to resolve stuck points, and enrich their ongoing work.
What kinds of trauma or problems is adjunct EMDR good for?
Adjunct therapy does not replace or interrupt ongoing therapy; it is supplemental to the primary therapeutic relationship. With adjunct EMDR therapy, clients continue to receive treatment with their primary therapist. Usually, adjunct therapy is short-term and desensitizes single-incident trauma or simple phobias that interfere with the client’s therapeutic gains. The success of treatment is based on clearly defined goals for the EMDR therapist, defined in collaboration with the primary therapist and client.
Watch this short video explaining how EMDR works.
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