Exploring the Power of EMDR Therapy

I’m sitting across a a client named Emily who had experienced a very frightening event. She had been in a car accident and it left her feeling scared, anxious, and overwhelmed. Even though the accident had happened a while ago, the memories and emotions are still very intense and vivid for her.

Emily is having trouble sleeping and often get nightmares about the accident. She came to see me for help.

I explain to Emily that EMDR stood for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. I tell her that our brains have a natural way of processing and healing from difficult experiences, but sometimes, like in Emily's case, this process gets stuck.

To help Emily, I ask her to visualize the car accident in her mind, almost like watching a movie. Then, using a pointer, at her eye level, I move the pointer from left to right back and forth for several times. I ask Emily to follow the movement with her eyes.

While Emily watch, I pause in between to ask her to pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, and memories that comes up. At first, it feels strange to Emily, but she trust the process and give it a try.

Through this process the memories of the car accident became less intense and overwhelming. The bilateral movement helps to unlock the stuck emotions and thoughts that were trapped inside Emily's mind.

After several sessions of EMDR, Emily began to notice a change. The memories of the car accident were still there, but they didn't have the same power over her. She could talk about the accident without feeling as scared or anxious. The nightmares started to fade away, and she could finally get a good night sleep.

EMDR untangled the knots in Emily's mind and helped her find peace and healing.

Emily now knows that even though scary things could happen, she had the strength to face them and recover. EMDR had given her a gift—the gift of moving forward and living a happy, healthy life.