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EMDR Therapy in Austin
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy helps your brain process difficult or traumatic memories in a way that reduces their emotional charge. It is a memory-based therapy that helps process trauma, relieve emotional distress and promote healing by targeting unprocessed experiences. It is not just for those with severe trauma, but can help with a wide variety of issues, particularly areas where you feel "stuck." ​​​​​
What Can EMDR Help With?
​Trauma & PTSD ​
Childhood Abuse & Neglect ​
Anxiety Disorders ​
Depression ​
Grief & Loss ​​
Low Self-Esteem & Negative Core Beliefs​
Relationship Issues ​
Attachment Issues
What Happens When We Experience a Traumatic Event?
When we encounter stressful events, our mind usually heals naturally and we are able to put the event behind us. Much of this natural mechanism of coping and adjustment occurs during sleep, particularly during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. However, when we experience trauma, and events are not processed in the usual adaptive way, emotional and bodily sensations experienced at the time of the trauma can become held in our bodies and easily reactivated by events in the present. In a sense, traumatic events are re-lived through flashbacks and nightmares but also through a distortion in the lens within which we see ourself, others and the world.
How Does EMDR Work?
​​​EMDR uses your brain's natural ability to heal itself and uses bilateral stimulation (similar to the eye movements during REM sleep) as the facilitator for that. Bilateral stimulation is recreated using a variety of methods such as watching the therapist's finger moving back and forth across your visual field, listening to alternating audio tones, or doing alternating knee taps. Experiences during a session may include changes in thoughts, images and feelings; and with repeated sets of eye movements, the trauma memory may change in such a way that it loses its painful intensity, becoming a more neutral memory of an event in the past. Other associated memories may also be desensitized and re-processed at the same time, resulting in significant changes in emotional distress, physical symptoms and core beliefs.
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Bilateral stimulation, within a carefully delivered EMDR protocol, assist in developing reparative neural-networks. The back and forth movements help the traumatic memory (which is looping in the emotional side of the brain in a “raw” emotional form) to become integrated with the cognitive part of the brain so that it can be transformed into a healthier, adaptive verbal “story” form and stored in a more natural way.
How Long Does A Treatment Take?
EMDR can be a brief focused treatment or included as part of a longer period of psychotherapy. EMDR sessions are between 50 to 90 minutes. How many sessions you will need for each targeted issue can vary from 6 to 12 or more.
Reprocessing is usually experienced as something that happens spontaneously, and new connections and insights are felt to arise quite naturally from within. As a result, most people experience EMDR as being a natural and very empowering therapy.​​
Can Anyone Benefit from EMDR?
EMDR can dramatically accelerate therapy by resolving the impact of past events and allowing you to live more fully in the present. If you experience a significant abreaction during a treatment session you will be supported through the feelings of distress and the session will close with safety imagery to ensure that you leave in a grounded state.
EMDR vs. Talk Therapy
EMDR works by targeting the brain's processing system, rather then relying solely on conscious insight or verbal processing, like traditional talk therapy. Talk therapy primarily focuses on exploring thoughts, emotions, and behaviors through conversation, helping clients gain insight, develop coping strategies, and shift perspectives over time. While this approach can be highly effective, it relies on conscious processing and verbal expression.
EMDR, on the other hand, directly targets experiences at a neurological level, more rapidly reducing emotional intensity and allowing clients to move forward without being overwhelmed by past trauma. Generally, EMDR will be used in conjunction with traditional talk therapy.