EMDR International Association (2018) details the therapy as:
“EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It is a form of therapy that helps people heal from trauma or other distressing life experiences. EMDR therapy is an integrative psychotherapy approach that has been extensively researched and used to resolve many issues and challenges. It is an empirically supported treatment for acute and chronic posttraumatic stress disorder. EMDR therapy has helped countless people of all ages to resolve psychological distress.”
EMDR has proven to help the following concerns:
Anxiety, panic attacks, and phobias
Chronic Illness and medical issues
Depression and bipolar disorders
Dissociative disorders
Eating disorders
Grief and loss
Pain
Performance anxiety
Personality disorders
PTSD and other trauma and stress related issues
Sexual assault
Sleep disturbance
Substance abuse and addiction
Violence and abuse
Learn more about our EMDR therapists Katie Fowler, LMHC and Makayla Gerhardt, LMHC on our About Us page.
EMDR Faq
Who is EMDR therapy for?
EMDR helps a wide variety of people of all ages and with a number of challenges.
What are the phases of EMDR?
EMDR therapy consists of 8 phases:
1. History and treatment planning
2. Preparation, to establish trust and explain the treatment in-depth
3. Assessment, to establish negative feelings and identify positive
replacements
4. Desensitization, which includes the eye movement/sound/tactile
technique
5. Installation, to strengthen positive replacements
6. Body scan, to see if the client is now able to bring up memories of
trauma without experiencing negative feelings that are no longer
relevant, or if reprocessing is necessary
7. Closure, which occurs at the end of every session
8. Re-evaluation, which occurs at the beginning of every session
