What is EMDR?
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| Derek Leighton, LMFT, LPC National Certified Counselor |
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is an
information processing therapy that helps you cope with trauma,
addictions, and phobias. EMDR is founded on the premise that
each person has both an innate tendency to move toward health
and wholeness, and the inner capacity to achieve it.
I use EMDR when appropriate in my practice to treat trauma
underlying sexual compulsion, addiction triggers, anxiety,
phobias, and performance enhancement.
Research suggests that when a person is very upset, the brain has
difficulty processing information as it normally does. Some
traumatic events and recurring situations which lead to intense
emotion becomes “frozen in time,” thereby “stuck” in the
information processing system. EMDR appears to have a direct
effect on the way the brain processes upsetting material.
Neuroscience researchers continue to explore how the brain
works. There is evidence for an innate adaptive information
processing system that exists as part of human thinking and
emotional self-regulation.
No one knows exactly how EMDR works. It involves bilateral
stimulation of the brain, through the use of eye movements or
alternating taps or sounds. With successful EMDR treatment,
upsetting experiences can be worked through to “adaptive
resolution.” Through EMDR, a client can come to understand an
event in the past or present, realize who or what was responsible
for the event occurring, and feel more confident and certain about
safety in the present and the ability to make healthy choices. What
happened is still remembered by the client, but in a new and less
disturbing way. The client will find that new and more flexible
behaviors become more inviting and rewarding.
Clinical reports and analyses of multiple research projects suggest
that EMDR treatment provides initial effects more rapidly, and
provides opportunity to work through disturbance more rapidly and
completely.
For more information, please visit the EMDR International
Association.
Please call now for a complimentary and totally confidential initial
telephone consultation. 512.658.2960
information processing therapy that helps you cope with trauma,
addictions, and phobias. EMDR is founded on the premise that
each person has both an innate tendency to move toward health
and wholeness, and the inner capacity to achieve it.
I use EMDR when appropriate in my practice to treat trauma
underlying sexual compulsion, addiction triggers, anxiety,
phobias, and performance enhancement.
Research suggests that when a person is very upset, the brain has
difficulty processing information as it normally does. Some
traumatic events and recurring situations which lead to intense
emotion becomes “frozen in time,” thereby “stuck” in the
information processing system. EMDR appears to have a direct
effect on the way the brain processes upsetting material.
Neuroscience researchers continue to explore how the brain
works. There is evidence for an innate adaptive information
processing system that exists as part of human thinking and
emotional self-regulation.
No one knows exactly how EMDR works. It involves bilateral
stimulation of the brain, through the use of eye movements or
alternating taps or sounds. With successful EMDR treatment,
upsetting experiences can be worked through to “adaptive
resolution.” Through EMDR, a client can come to understand an
event in the past or present, realize who or what was responsible
for the event occurring, and feel more confident and certain about
safety in the present and the ability to make healthy choices. What
happened is still remembered by the client, but in a new and less
disturbing way. The client will find that new and more flexible
behaviors become more inviting and rewarding.
Clinical reports and analyses of multiple research projects suggest
that EMDR treatment provides initial effects more rapidly, and
provides opportunity to work through disturbance more rapidly and
completely.
For more information, please visit the EMDR International
Association.
Please call now for a complimentary and totally confidential initial
telephone consultation. 512.658.2960
Copyright 2008 Derek Leighton.
| Derek Leighton, LMFT, LPC National Certified Counselor Certified EMDR Therapist |