EMDR Therapy Online
Hello, I am a certified EMDR therapist and I provide EMDR therapy Online to women all over Texas and Washington State.
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and reprocessing
Eye movement is moving your eyes back and forth following bilateral stimulation. Bilateral stimulation is when the therapist moves their fingers in front of your eyes and asks you to follow them with your eyes. In video sessions we generate the same movement by using sound through a metronome that creates a tapping sound alternatively.
Desensitization is when the bilateral movement reduces the intensity of the memory that holds the negative feelings and beliefs.
Reprocessing is when a new positive and empowering self belief is integrated into the system.
EMDR helps process the worst part of a memory that might have kept you stuck in your past.
It helps work through negative beliefs about yourselves and works toward associating a positive self belief with the traumatic experience, which helps realize a sense of agency and feel empowered.
EMDR does not require you to share details about a traumatic event with the therapist.
Bilateral stimulation used in this approach helps you stay grounded in the moment and it also helps with processing the memory.
My work with EMDR started with my own healing journey. I got trained in EMDR and now have a certification in it because I experienced the shifts that EMDR can help make.
I have experienced EMDR both as a provider and a client. So, I am aware of and can relate to my clients going through their process with EMDR.
Like any other therapy approach, a strong therapeutic relationship, trust and being transparent about your experience in the sessions is an important facet. In doing EMDR work with my clients I have witnessed a lot of my clients experience shifts within themselves.
Can you do EMDR Therapy online?
Yes, EMDR can be done online. Bilateral stimulation which is an integral part of EMDR can be done online by using sound from a metronome or tapping movements. EMDR therapy online has been as effective as EMDR in person. My clients continue showing progress and are continuing on their journey of healing.
Is EMDR right for you?
EMDR is one of the most researched approaches. According to the research along with being good for PTSD EMDR is also used to treat the following:
Anxiety
Depression
Trauma from being in a narcissistic relationship
Postpartum depression
Trauma from difficult experiences in your childhood
Trauma from experiences at work
Grief and loss
Low self esteem
Chronic pain
What does an EMDR session look like?
An EMDR session starts with history taking. A client’s life story helps the therapist create a treatment plan for the client.
At the same time the therapist will work on building resources and teach you emotional regulation techniques.
When working with relationship trauma or developmental trauma a lot of time is spent in the preparation phase.
Different techniques like parts work, grounding, working through blocking beliefs, strengthening your adult parts etc are used before the memories are processed through EMDR.
When working with someone with PTSD and no history of relationship trauma the treatment plan is slightly different as they might not need to spend as much time in the preparation phase.
Simultaneously, you and your therapist will set goals and identify memories that might need to be processed to meet those goals.
When it feels like you are ready to start working on those memories, your therapist will start with the earliest memory.
Your therapist will ask you to identify the worst part of the memory and focus on that. You will also identify negative beliefs, emotions, and physical sensations associated with that memory.
Identify what you want to believe about yourself when you think about the memory and then start the bilateral stimulation. As we continue processing, new information comes up and the memory we started with starts becoming less and less intense.
Sometimes we might have to pause the work on the original memory if another traumatic memory shows up that might need to be processed before processing the original memory.
Other times we might be able to continue our work on the original memory and once that’s processed, then start working on the traumatic memory that came up while processing the original memory.
Inner child work and CBT are interwoven with EMDR while processing memories. One memory might take several sessions to process or could be processed in a 90 minute session.
A memory is considered to be processed if your positive belief about yourself related to that memory strengthens and feels absolutely true and you feel no distress in your body when you think about that memory.
If you feel like you are ready to start your healing journey then drop me a line, I would be happy to set up a free consultation to see if we are a good fit.
Let’s get you the help you need