More About EMDR Therapy

Advocate Counseling and Consulting, PLLC is pleased to offer Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy to our clients. If you have tried talk therapy in the past and it did not help as much as you believed it should have, then EMDR Therapy may be of particular interest to you. EMDR Therapy allows clients to choose how much information (if any) to disclose about what they would like to address in therapy sessions. In addition, EMDR Therapy does not require clients to complete homework assignments as many other therapy approaches do. 

EMDR Therapy is an evidence-based psychotherapy demonstrated to be a very effective treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, and adverse life experiences. EMDR Therapy is currently approved for the treatment of trauma by the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the Veterans Administration and the Department of the Defense, the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies, The World Health Organization, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

EMDR Therapy was first discovered in 1987 by Dr. Francine Shapiro, a psychologist and student of mind-body medicine. Despite the acronym EMDR, eye movements are no longer necessary for EMDR Therapy – types of dual attention stimulus include auditory tones, tactile tapping, or eye movements. Since we are delivering services via telehealth, use of tactile self-tapping is a common choice among clients. The choice of dual attention stimulus used in EMDR Therapy is completely based on each individual client’s choice, comfort, and safety. 

Trauma may not be the only type of psychological injury that causes symptoms that present as those of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Adverse life experiences are seen as potentially life-altering, ego-bruising, and/or exceeding the person’s capacity to cope may present with symptoms similar to PTSD. In our trauma-focused approach, trauma is subjective and what may be considered traumatic for one person may not be traumatic for another person. In short, if something was traumatic for the person, then it was trauma. 

The memory of the trauma or adverse life experience may become "frozen in time" in the brain and remembering the moment or moments (and others associated with it) may feel as bad as going through it the first time. This is because the images, sounds, smells, emotions, and possibly body sensations remain the same and are “stuck” in the brain. The trauma may have a lasting negative affect on a person that interferes with the way they see the world and the way they relate to other people.

EMDR Therapy appears to affect how the brain processes information. The way EMDR Therapy works seems to be similar to what occurs naturally during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep or taxing working memory in the brain. Through EMDR Therapy, information becomes “unstuck” in the brain and normal information processing can then resume. As psychological injuries are resolved, these traumatic memories should become less detailed, less vivid, and more distant. Traumas should lose their negative charge and seem more like bad memories from the past, rather than experiences that are continually recalled.

We have clinicians trained to treat special populations including first responders (police, fire, EMS, 911 communications), military personnel, dual diagnosis (mental health/substance use), behavioral addictions, and Complex PTSD or Developmental Trauma.

For more information on EMDR Therapy, please visit EMDRIA, the EMDR International Association’s official website. All clinicians utilizing EMDR Therapy in our practice are trained by EMDRIA-Approved training programs, a standard as part of Advocate Counseling and Consulting’s commitment to excellence in trauma-focused care.