EMDR Therapy stands for Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing. EMDR is a treatment that desensitizes an individual to a traumatic and/or stressful event they have been through by using bilateral stimulation. Bilateral stimulation is stimulating the left and right sides of your brain back and forth. This helps to desensitize the individual. This can be done by an individual self-tapping back and forth, watching a dot on a screen move back and forth, holding tappers that vibrate back and forth, watching an individual’s fingers move back and forth, etc.
When someone goes through a traumatic or stressful event, our bodies hold on to thoughts, emotions, and body sensations from experiences in our lives. EMDR explores negative thoughts you believe about yourself, the memories those thoughts stem from, and how your body and mind react to those memories. The goal of this therapy is to not erase your memories but to decrease the current emotional and physical charge you currently experience from the memories. It can be difficult to be present if we are holding on to situations/events that happened in the past.
The basic protocol of EMDR has 8 phases. Phase 1-2 focuses on clinicians reviewing the client’s history and building coping skills and reviewing resources and support. Next, the clinician moves on to phases 3-7 which include, assessment, desensitization, installation, body scan, and closure. Finally, the clinician completes phase 8 which helps prepare clients for a future scenario that may be similar to a past experience.
EMDR can be an intense therapy. This is not disclosed to deter anyone from trying but to be honest when thinking about this treatment. If you have been through a traumatic loss or experience, EMDR may bring many of those emotions and experiences back to the surface. People who are trained in EMDR understand how important coping skills and support are to clients to help them through their journey of EMDR.
You may be wondering how EMDR can be helpful to moms. Motherhood is absolutely amazing and wonderful, but can also come with many stressors. Examples of situations that EMDR can be helpful with are listed below, but really EMDR can be helpful with any trauma/stressful event.
- Conception
- Worried about becoming a parent due to your childhood experiences
- Difficulties conceiving
- Experiences with fertility treatments
- Difficulties during pregnancy
- Having to be on bed rest, experiencing difficult symptoms
- Discovering your child or you may have a complication
- Nerves about delivery due to past medical or delivery experiences
- Miscarriage
- Difficulties postpartum
- Feeling alone
- Traumatic birth experiences
- Losing a child
- Postpartum Recovery
- Difficulties with partner
We have three therapists currently at River Root who are trained in EMDR. If you are interested in this type of therapy, your therapist will teach you more about how EMDR is conducted, how trauma and stress are stored in our bodies and brain, and more in-depth how EMDR works as a whole. If wanting more information about EMDR please visit the website below.