EMDR Therapy
FOR ADULTS IN MASSACHUSETTS
What is EMDR therapy?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a structured therapy that helps people heal from the impacts of distressing life experiences. One of the core premises of EMDR therapy is that, just as bodies can heal from physical trauma, our brains also have a natural capacity to heal from emotional trauma and move towards mental health. When people experience disturbing events, our minds often don’t completely process them in the moment—which is part of why those events can cause us continued distress, long after they occurred. EMDR directly targets how these memories are stored in our brains, which allows us to fully “metabolize” them and their associated emotions, thoughts, and physical sensations. In other words, EMDR helps unblock us so our natural healing process can resume.
Along with treating trauma, EMDR therapy can help people who are experiencing a range of issues including: anxiety, social anxiety, panic attacks, depression, phobias, stress related to chronic health conditions, and relationship issues. Research shows that for many people, EMDR therapy can be completed in fewer sessions than other psychotherapies.
How does EMDR work?
Researchers believe that EMDR works by engaging similar brain mechanisms to those involved in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. The EMDR process involves a person focusing on a specific troublesome memory while simultaneously engaging in bilateral stimulation, usually through eye movements in a rhythmic left-right pattern, guided by the therapist. During this process, the person notices the thoughts, feelings, images, and sensations that come up for them.
The combined focus on the memory, the feelings, and the bilateral stimulation helps our brains make associations and neural connections that integrate our memories and reduce their emotional intensity associated with the event, so that the person feels the memory is “neutralized” or like they’ve gained distance from it.
What does EMDR therapy look like?
Like all therapy, EMDR is a personal experience, and it will look a bit different for everyone. Rest assured that we’ll collaborate to move at a comfortable pace for you. When we first start meeting, I’ll ask you questions to learn about your history and current life, and we’ll identify events in your life that EMDR could help you address. Next, in preparing for EMDR, I’ll teach you a range of coping skills and resources that you can use both during and between our therapy sessions. Once you’re feeling grounded in these skills, we’ll start reprocessing memories one at a time. We’ll work through processing all related past events, current situations that elicit distress, and potential future events.
This is a short description of how the EMDR process might look- to learn more about the 8 phases of EMDR therapy read this more detailed description from the EMDR Institute (Scroll down to the Treatment Description section).
HI, I’M LAUREN.
I’m an artist, therapist, educator, and activist. I’m a licensed mental health counselor and a board-certified, registered art therapist. I offer online individual psychotherapy, EMDR therapy, and art therapy. You can learn more about my approach to therapy on my About page.
Get Started
Interested in how EMDR therapy could support you?
Reach out for a free 15-minute consultation call.