EMDR Therapy for Trauma

You can heal.

Through proper therapy by trained therapists there is a path forward. You can heal. While it may have happened many years ago or even last month, your trauma can be treated and you can find peace. 

The brain remembers.

Think of the brain as a sponge. Your brain holds on to memories, whether good or bad, or happy or sad. Our brains are programmed that way. Emotional trauma can stay with you long after the traumatizing event has taken place. 

All of us have had very complicated moments sometimes painful and sometimes embarrassing, and those things stick with us. Maybe it’s the time you spilled your drink in the cafeteria as a child, or maybe not maybe something more complex like being bullied in the classroom. Maybe it's an abusive marriage or parent, whatever it is we can help you heal.

PTSD

PTSD can come from toxic relationships, acute events, religious related trauma, and other processes that impact your nervous system.

Trauma is an emotional response that resides and lasts much longer than the event, and causes significant emotional and mental distress. Just like physical wounds on the body, it takes time for deep injuries to heal.

PTSD stands for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It is a condition that can occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event or series of traumatic events over time. PTSD can develop after a distressing event or process that involves emotional or physically threatened pain, shame, injury, or damage to your psyche.

Recovery From Trauma and PTSD

Recovery from trauma is absolutely possible with the right kind of help and treatment. It’s important that you know that ignoring or avoiding the symptoms of trauma in your past is not a healthy response to that process. In fact, ignoring those signs and symptoms can make things even worse later on.

Even though your trauma may have been in the past, unresolved trauma can affect your present, causing things like anxiety, depression, panic attacks, and other complications with normal daily living. In some cases, you may also develop complex post traumatic stress disorder, which happens due to prolonged or repeated trauma over time.

EMDR Trained Therapists Can Help

Several of our therapists are formally trained in EMDR and Brainspotting, technologies for helping with your healing from past trauma. It's extremely important that your therapist be informed and formally trained on the therapeutic process, but also understand, and employ the tools that can help you process and heal from your trauma, efficiently and safely in your work together. 

One of the most important pieces of the process is that you establish a safe therapeutic connection before you open up about the details of your trauma.

Treatment Modalities for Trauma and PTSD

I've listed some of the treatment modalities, also called methods of treatment, that are commonly used with trauma.

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): CBT helps individuals identify and change negative thoughts and behaviors associated with trauma. It often includes exposure therapy, where the person gradually confronts their traumatic memories or situations.
• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): EMDR, which is accepted and proven, combines elements of exposure therapy with rapid eye movements or other forms of bilateral stimulation to help process traumatic memories and reduce their impact.
• Trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT): This approach is specifically designed for children and adolescents and combines CBT techniques with trauma processing and family involvement.

Often EMDR does not occur on the first session, but an understanding of the issues in your personal history of trauma is important to facilitate your healing in a safe, supportive manner.

Learn more and prepare for your first EMDR therapy session with our EMDR for beginners post on our blog.