Counselling & Online Therapy - talk through life's challenges
EMDR Therapy
EMDR – it is for me?
Are disturbing memories from the past still coming into your everyday world?
This might be in the form of dreams, flashbacks, nightmares, night terrors, sudden hijacking, paralysing or distressing thoughts and huge feelings accompanying all or any of the above?
Do smells, sights, sounds, tastes or touch seemingly unrelated to the past trigger big emotional responses?
Or do shades or fragments of past times that show up in present circumstances pull you back to those challenging times?
If any of this sounds like you, then EMDR (eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing) therapy could help.
What I offer
I trained in Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy in 2022 and having worked with quite a few clients now, have seen for myself how transformative it is. Client can have EMDR therapy at my practice and also online. It helps clients who continue to be affected by traumatic experiences in the ways suggested above as well as helping with many other issues (see list below).
I am a qualified EMDR Therapist, having completed Levels 1-4 accredited EMDR training by EMDR Works (accredited by EMDR Europe). I offer this therapy in person and online. I am a member of EMDR Association UK and am supervised by an EMDR Consultant who was one of my trainers.
Some areas where EMDR can help include PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), complex grief, accidents, assaults, domestic violence, war and military experiences, childbirth trauma, medical or health anxieties, childhood abuse (sexual, physical, emotional or neglect) and attachment trauma, anxiety, low self-esteem, depression.
How did EMDR come about?
‘Whilst walking one day, I noticed that some disturbing thoughts I was having suddenly disappeared…;
These are the words of Dr Francine Shapiro, an American clinical psychologist who developed EMDR from this chance discovery in 1987. Testing and developing her initial findings on friends, colleagues and others eventually led to bigger, scientific trails across multiple groups of people with a diverse range of clinical presentations. EMDR is now recognised as a clinically effective therapy with much research evidence. Guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the World Health Organisation recommends it as treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
What happens in trauma?
Sensory information that is not upsetting usually passes through the amygdala, an almond shaped structure in the limbic system or emotional processing part of the brain. This information then passes through the hippocampus, another part of our primitive brain. The hippocampus helps with processing, organising and sequencing and adds details of time and space to be stored as the information passes into the left hemisphere of the brain. So, the information and experience is stored in the orderly ‘filing cabinet’ of memory and new learning has taken place.
When sensory information that is very emotionally disturbing comes into our bodies, it gets stuck in the Central Nervous System in the right hemisphere of the brain. This stuck information is not processed in the way other sensory information is and remains here. When other information comes in that reminds us of this event, the stuck memory is triggered and emotionally re-experienced in the present. This can be experienced as flashbacks, intrusive thoughts and nightmares - all symptoms of PTSD.
How does EMDR work?
Although it’s not fully known how EMDR works, it seems to directly influence the way that the brain functions, restoring normal information processing. After EMDR, this means that disturbing memories are no longer disturbing when brought to mind. The client can still remember what happened but is no longer upset by it.
It is possible that EMDR is a conscious harnessing of the brain’s natural processing in dreaming or REM (Rapid Eye Movements) sleep. Without any pharmacotherapy, EMDR is helping the brain to work through distressing experiences from the past. In EMDR, this is carried out by asking clients to bring up a disturbing memory and then follow a therapist’s repeated hand movements known as bilateral stimulation. Research is continuing but it is thought that this bilateral stimulation creates biochemical changes in the brain that aid processing of information. It is likely these changes occur in the limbic system.
How long does it take?
This depends partly on what the individual has been through. With single incident trauma, it can take as little as 1-3 sessions of EMDR therapy. With more complex trauma (multiple memories over long time periods), it can take longer. In addition, more preparation beforehand is needed to help the client move safely through the process.
What do clients say about EMDR?
‘The EMDR has been absolutely fantastic. I’m noticing a massive difference in terms of shame and guilt that I was feeling at the start of my sessions with you. Those feelings have definitely lessened. Very happy with how much I feel that I’ve progressed.’
‘Lisa and EMDR have helped me to move several traumatic experiences from being all consuming and repeating over and over in my mind to memories with far less power over me. I was sceptical at first but I’m glad I’m now enjoying some lightness as my past is starting to have less of a hold over my present and future.’
'Lisa suggested EMDR as a way to work through memories of events in my childhood and early adulthood that were coming up too regularly as intrusive thoughts, affecting my mood and ability to manage my reactions to smaller frustrations day to day. I didn't know what to expect but Lisa took me through the whole process step by step. I found EMDR very helpful as a way to reprocess those events and I believe it's had a positive impact - I think about them less often and when I do, I'm having a much healthier emotional response.’
‘EMDR is really helping. I have a lot less panic and around my past relationships, I feel nothing at all. I was upset and angry before and now, nothing. It is amazing.’
Want to find out more?
Read up on EMDR here https://emdrworks.org/what-is-emdr/and contact me for a discussion. EMDR sessions are longer than talking therapy and involve resourcing to help you to calm and ground yourself at the end and in between sessions. We’ll work together to find out more about your circumstances and history and for you to understand the process before we begin.