Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
(EMDR)

Painful memories still haunt you.

You’ve done so much work to get over what happened, but you still can’t get past it. Without warning, emotions flood back with the same intensity as when they were fresh. You’ve talked about it repeatedly, yet you haven’t made any real progress from where you started.

You frequently have trouble focusing, and your mind always seems to be racing. Sometimes you start a task only to immediately lose track of what you are doing. Living this way is frustrating, and those close to you have noticed how irritable you’ve become.

Most of the time, you’re an emotional wreck. Constantly looking over your shoulder, but unsure why. You frequently feel like you’re faking your way through the day.

There’s more that you want from life.

It’s hard to commit or get involved in things because you never know how you’ll feel from one moment to the next. You’ve begun to avoid social activities and rarely spend any time outside of your home or office.

This is not how you imagined your future. You still have hopes and dreams you want to achieve, but it feels impossible. You feel stuck in place with no possibility of breaking free.

If only there were some way to get over what happened to you.

EMDR can be the answer.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing was developed in the late-1980s by the psychiatrist Dr. Francine Shapiro. One day she observed that her eyes moved quickly in a diagonal pattern whenever she reflected on a disturbing thought. She then noticed that if she processed the thought while moving her eyes in the same pattern, it became less disturbing.

She combined this discovery with sleep research involving how rapid eye movement (REM) helps our brain process the day’s events and memories, thus creating the foundation for the techniques used in EMDR.

Using the senses to stimulate both sides of the brain, EMDR helps people reprocess painful memories, rebuild neuropathways, and improve present and future functioning.

How EMDR works.

Your brain is a big library. Every night when you sleep, your brain sorts and catalogs experiences for future reference. However, when an incident is too painful or overwhelming, the brain has trouble filing it away properly.

Instead, these painful memories remain on the surface, popping up at unexpected times and interfering with your ability to live a happy life.

EMDR helps the brain get unstuck and process these thoughts so they no longer trigger the “fight, flight, freeze” survival response that continues to show up long after the event.

It’s time to take back control.

We can’t erase memories, but we can reprocess them with EMDR so they are less triggering, intrusive, and debilitating.

EMDR has been researched and deemed effective by numerous empirical studies for treating trauma. It is widely accepted and used as part of treating traumatic memory.

Let me help you through the process of putting your past in the past so you can start to move forward into the life you desire. Call me at (410) 299-3756 to set up a consultation to discuss your needs. I look forward to learning more about you and letting you get to know me.