EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) uses eye movements or bilateral music through headphones. With a therapist’s help you remember a difficult event. Bilateral music helps your brain process and understand tough memories by activating both the left and right sides of your body or brain in a rhythmic way. EMDR directly addresses what’s troubling you, helping your mind heal just as your body heals after removing a splinter.
You can close your eyes or keep them open and think about a bad memory like when you got scared during a storm. The therapist asks you to think about how scared you felt and what thoughts come to mind, like “I’m not safe.” Then, the therapist plays the EMDR music and they ask you to keep thinking about the storm and feeling scared.
After a while the therapist asks what thoughts or feelings you have now. Maybe you feel a little less scared or think, “I can handle it.”
You do this back-and-forth and talk with the therapist several times. Each time the memory might feel less scary and you might start thinking more positive thoughts, like “I’m safe.”
By the end of the session you might still remember the storm, but it doesn’t make you as scared or upset anymore. This is because the therapy helped your brain process the memory differently, making it feel less intense.
Proven effective for a broad range of issues, EMDR is used to treat: Anxiety and panic attacks, Depression, OCD, Stress, Phobias, Sleep issues, Low self-esteem, Grief and loss, Pain, Performance anxiety, Trauma, PTSD and C- PTSD.