EMDR Therapy is a groundbreaking type of psychological therapy is helping many overcome their trauma.
At Mahajan Therapeutics, we offer an evidenced-based program that helps people process traumatic life events safely and effectively. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) has been extensively researched and implemented. It has provided relief for so many who have had the misfortune of enduring severe stressors in the past.
EMDR Therapy for Trauma Recovery
EMDR therapy is a treatment used to help people regain mental wellness after suffering traumatic experiences. Originally, EMDR was a therapeutic option for people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, it has been so successful in treating trauma that it can treat other mental illnesses.
EMDR can also treat people with:
- Eating disorders
- Substance use disorder
- Panic disorder
- Dissociative disorder
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Depression
- Prolonged grief
EMDR benefits anyone with a mental disorder connected to trauma. Only certified therapy providers can conduct this treatment. EMDR is becoming more in demand among other mental health treatments, and Mahajan is proud to provide this groundbreaking therapy.
How does EMDR Therapy Work?
Through a dual-attention stimulus, your therapist will ask you to think about a traumatic event that is causing you distress. Through EMDR, you’re transported back to your memories safely while effectively keeping your emotional footing in the present day.
This approach allows for the desensitization of the memory and release of the trauma. We like to refer to this as becoming “unstuck.” During the procedure, patients can process the negative memory away by finding a peaceful resolution in the present day.
Patients who have found success with EMDR report that they gained insight with this therapy. They were able to reevaluate the original traumatic event and the long-held negative feelings that torment them. In other words, patients feel as though they’ve outgrown their trauma and are now able to put it past them.
How Can EMDR Help Me Heal?
EMDR treatments are proven to significantly decrease instances of distress in those suffering from traumatic memories and/or PTSD. The creator of EMDR, Francine Shapiro, PhD, found that even a single session is valuable. One visit could reduce traumatic memories for those with PTSD-related symptoms more effectively than Cognitive Behavioral Therapy alone.
One of the unique components of EMDR is that it doesn’t require you to talk in detail about your trauma. This differs greatly from other psychotherapeutic methods, as it doesn’t “reopen an old wound.”
Instead, EMDR focuses on shifting emotions, thoughts and behaviors that result from a distressing experience. It gives your brain time to resume a natural healing process and stop rumination.
EDMR relies on something called Adaptive Information Processing (AIP). It is a model of how your brain stores memories, both good and bad. The theory recognizes that the brain recognizes and stores normal and traumatic memories differently.
With normal memories, the brain stores them smoothly. They’re connected to each other with networks so that you can remember them easily and often. Upsetting events are stored differently and don’t have functioning networks. The brain goes “offline” and creates a disconnect between your experience and what your brain stores through language.
The way the brain stores traumatic events doesn’t allow natural healing; the message did not send. Due to that, your brain holds this harmful data that reinforces itself over and over again. Think of it as an injury; the memory heightens all your senses related to the event.
EMDR can help you heal these negative data networks in your brain. Even with a few sessions, you will notice a difference in how you process your traumatic memories.
What Does EMDR Look Like?
During your session, your therapist will engage you in bilateral eye stimulation. This is painless and non-invasive.
You will follow patterned hand gestures that allow you to reprocess your memories safely. You will access these negative memories in a particular way with instructions. In addition to this, the therapist may use tools to offer hand stimulation.
The reprocessing of these memories will help repair the mental injury caused by trauma. You will still remember the event or memory, but you will no longer feel as though you are reliving it.
This is particularly helpful for people who have many triggers that send them immediately to a bad place. Because triggers can be people, places, smells or things, it’s difficult to avoid them forever. By healing EMDR, everyday life will become much easier, and triggers, if they do still occur, will be more manageable.
How Long Does EMDR Take?
EMDR produces faster healing compared to many other healing modalities. While we recommend that therapeutics work hand in hand together, EMDR is a powerful tool for relief. Everyone is different, but on average, we find our clients experience a significant decrease in distress after just a few sessions.
Why Should I Try EMDR?
At Mahajan Therapeutics, we want to see our clients heal and to realize who they can be. We want them to understand their potential. EMDR is a tool associated with a significant decrease in traumatic memories since its discovery in 1988. It offers relief faster than other traditional therapies. EMDR can help you heal the trauma of your past, present, and future by changing the way your brain reacts to experiences. It is powerful, and it is healing.
Contact Us Today
Mahajan Therapeutics is excited to share this unique psychotherapeutic technique with people who would greatly benefit from it. Our mission is to spread awareness about the importance of mental health while also offering solutions. Find out more about how EMDR can help you or someone you love by contacting us with any questions or concerns.
