EMDR Therapy
Kate is a Certified Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapist with 23 years using EMDR.
EMDR therapy works. The value of EMDR therapy is that it seems to have a direct effect on how the train processes information, allowing the brain and cody to adaptively process the event(s).
EMDR therapy is recognized as an effective trauma treatment, recommended worldwide in practice guidelines from domestic and international organizations.
Therapists have reported success using EMDR therapy with:
- Panic attacks
- Complicated grief
- Disturbing events and memories
- Pain disorders
- Performance anxiety
- Stress reduction
- Addictions
The goal of EMDR therapy is to reduce the negative impact of distressing life events on your current emotions, thoughts, and behaviours.
With chronic upset or stress, or single event shocks, research shows our brain cannot process information as it ordinarily does. That means we are unable to fully process the stress or event and it gets stored as a state that can push us towards unhelpful emotions, thoughts, and actions.
Think of EMDR therapy as a physiologically based therapy that unblocks the impact of the distressing experience, so the mind and body can heal.
More About EMDR Therapy
For additional information about EMDR therapy and research about it, check out these resources:
EMDR International Association
Research
See the EMDR Institute’s Research Overview for an annotated list of research.
- World Health Organization (2013). Guidelines for the Management of Conditions that are Specifically related to Stress. Geneva, WHO.
- Trauma-focused CBT and EMDR are the only psychotherapies recommended for children, adolescents, and adults with PTSD.
- American Psychiatric Association (2004). Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Patients with Acute Stress Disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Arlington, VA, American Psychiatric Association Practice Guidelines.
- EMDR therapy was determined to be an effective treatment of trauma.
- Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense (2004, 2010). VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Managment of Post-Traumatic Stress. Washington, DC.
- EMDR therapy was placed in the ‘A’ category as “strongly recommended” for the treatment of trauma.