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Can EMDR Therapy Help Me Heal From the Trauma of 2020?
Heidi Erickson • Dec 21, 2020
For many of us, watching the ball drop as we ring in 2021 may feel quite different this year. After all, 2020 has been a year of grief, loss, fear, change, and social distance. Life may feel so different now. As a result, you may even be living with trauma. So, with a new year approaching, you may wonder how to move forward. If you're looking for a way to heal, EMDR therapy may be a good solution.
EMDR therapy is a therapeutic approach to healing trauma. Likewise, therapists can use this approach to help those with depression, anxiety, PTSD, and other issues. In other words, if the symptoms you're experiencing are impacting your everyday life, there may be a solution.
Let's talk about what EMDR is and if it might be able to help you heal. After all, you deserve happiness in 2021, especially after enduring 2020.
What is EMDR?
Without a doubt, trauma can be difficult and uncomfortable to work through. There are many types of therapeutic approaches to healing trauma. One particular, EMDR, continues to have high efficacy rates, study after study.
Here's a quick history lesson. In 1987, Dr. Francine Shapiro was at a park and noticed her negative emotions tied to her own painful memories were reduced through eye movements. Over time, and through many case studies, she refined the process and eventually founded the EMDR Institute in 1995. (www.emdr.com/history-of-emdr).
EMDR is also known as eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. Through this approach, bilateral stimulation is used to activate the left and right sides of the brain. As you move through the eight-stage process, you'll revisit your trauma. However, the difference is, through the process, you can 'unfreeze' and reprocess your memories. As a result, many people heal and can move forward. If treatment is successful, debilitating triggers no longer have their powerful effect. Thus, reducing your symptoms and distress caused by trauma.
EMDR also has a high success rate. Some studies show as high as 90% of clients report a reduction in symptoms after as few as one to three sessions.
What Symptoms of Trauma Might EMDR Help to Reduce or Eliminate?
Trauma can affect everyone differently. For example, two people can be involved in the same traumatic situation but have very different symptoms. One may not display symptoms at all, while the impact on the other person is life-altering.
Furthermore, there are many distressing symptoms that can accompany trauma.
For example:
- anxiety
- extreme fear
- irritability
- difficulty concentrating
- sadness
- depression
- anger
- inability to trust self and others
- headaches
- digestive issues
- skittishness
- sleeplessness
- flashbacks
If you're living with unprocessed trauma, your symptoms may seem relentless. As a result, life may seem to be quite different than it was before the traumatic event. However, there are many reasons to hope that healing is possible.
At NOVA Counseling, we specialize in EMDR therapy. Our goal is to help every client heal from their trauma. We would love to see if we can help you too. To learn more, you can visit our website www.novacounseling.com.
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