EMDR Therapy

Maybe you’ve heard of EMDR Therapy before - maybe a friend or another therapist suggested you try it. So what exactly is EMDR? 

EMDR (Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) Therapy is an extensively researched therapeutic modality developed to help people heal from trauma, PTSD, and complex PTSD. It has also been shown to be highly effective in treating anxiety, panic, phobias, depression, grief, and the impact of other adverse life experiences. Our brains are pretty amazing, and they innately know how to heal (think about a time you experienced something negative and were able to process it and move forward without therapy) but sometimes trauma or certain experiences can cause that healing process to get “stuck”, and this is how those negative experiences can come to still affect our daily lives, relationships, and self-esteem so many years later.

In EMDR Therapy sessions, we use bilateral stimulation (eye-movement or tapping) to work with your brain’s natural healing power by reprocessing traumatic or distressing memories so that they are stored in a new, more adaptive way. You won’t forget the memories (this is not Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), but they will feel less intense and less activating. The goal of this process is to reduce the distress you feel, decrease the impact of those past experiences on your daily life and relationships, and help you feel more confident and prepared to face future challenges in your life. 

Maybe you recently experienced an assault or were injured in an accident, and it’s shaken up your life and sense of safety in the world, and you feel like you just can’t get back to your old self. Maybe you survived years of abuse or neglect, and you thought you’d moved past it, but it seems like it keeps coming up in unexpected ways in your daily life, your relationships, and your sense of self-worth. Maybe you can’t pinpoint any specific experiences that shaped your life in this way, but you just know that you’re feeling bad about yourself, you’re overwhelmed, and everything seems impossible right now. You may even have already spent years in therapy talking about this, but you’re still feeling stuck. This is where a lot of people are when they seek out EMDR therapy. Sometimes talk therapy can only get you so far, and it’s not the only path forward.

EMDR Therapy can help you heal and find lasting relief from trauma and negative experiences that have been weighing you down and keeping you feeling “stuck”. EMDR approaches healing through a lens of mindfulness, to not only help you heal the wounds of traumatic and negative experiences, but to also learn to change the patterns of distress and anxiety that may have become all too normal in your life. Through this work, you can shift negative thoughts and doubts you have held for years, gain self-compassion, and feel empowered to move forward with new understanding and confidence in yourself.

If you are at all curious about what EMDR Therapy is like, or you want to know if EMDR Therapy might be able to help with your specific concerns, please reach out. I’d be happy to answer any questions you have!  I offer EMDR Therapy in-person for Los Angeles clients at my office, and online via telehealth to anyone in the state of California. 

I completed my training in EMDR Therapy with a specialized LGBTQ+ focus through The Institute for Creative Mindfulness.

You can learn more about EMDR at emdira.org

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I offer in-person therapy for residents of Los Angeles in the South Bay including Torrance, Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills, Lomita, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale, and Gardena; and online therapy via telehealth throughout the state of California.