EMDR Therapy in Franklin, TN

Going through a traumatic event often causes effects that persist long after the experience is over. Often these effects diminish over time and people can return to life as they lived it before the experience. Sometimes the physical and psychological impact of trauma lingers and can cause problems that interfere with a person’s ability to function effectively. Severe trauma that lasts usually requires therapeutic intervention. While some therapy methods like cognitive behavioral therapy are beneficial, EMDR therapy is a modality developed specifically for working with people who experienced trauma.

Most people throughout their life have experienced trauma of some form. And much of the time, the emotion of the trauma comes out in their relationships because the person has not developed the coping skills to effectively process the experience.

EMDR therapy, also known as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, helps the stimulation of the right and left hemispheres of the brain that helps engage and encourage the integration of feeling and thinking about an event in a verbal and non-verbal way. During EMDR therapy, the effect’s benefit is like REM sleep where individuals process positive and negative thoughts and events of the day to effectively move-on in life without acting out in a negative way.

Multiple studies about EMDR indicate its effectiveness in helping people recover from a variety of traumatic experiences. From early childhood memories to adult experiences like death or divorce.

What happens in EMDR Therapy?

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing is a specialized conversation that provides a way to reprocess information. Specific questions are asked to enable a person to integrate what has happened to them. Like watching the scenes of a movie, the therapist asks the client to recall an incident (remembering the images, sounds, impressions and other sensations), the negative thinking caused by the incident, and the new thoughts or beliefs the client would like to have.

The therapist then moves his or her hand from side to side in front of the client. The client follows the fingers with his or her eyes. After a short time, therapists make connections with clients and the clients generally think and feel differently about the incident, similar incidents, and themselves. Healing has begun.

As time has gone on, it has become clear that eye movements are not the only way to create integration. The client can hold little vibrating buttons that gently vibrate in each hand or therapist may tap the knees or the hands of the patient, or by use of sounds alternating ear-to-ear. The key is to receive stimulation to both hemispheres of the brain.

How to know if EMDR Therapy is right for you?

If you heard yourself say, “It feels like it just happened yesterday” or “I can’t forgive or move on” this feeling may indicate that a memory has been stored “dysfunctionally” and has not been properly processed so you can move on. This is not your fault. You simply have not processed the event or situation that has enabled you to move on.

For example, to process a negative situation, you must process the information using both the right and left hemispheres of the brain. However, when you experience a traumatic event, often this event is stored in the right side of the brain, where you experience and store emotion, and the left side of the brain, the reasoning side, doesn’t experience the event at all, giving you no concept of time or history. For integration to take place, new neural pathways must be developed so the right and the left side of the brain can process the event effectively. This happens when the two sides of the brain are in contact with each other, when emotion and reason connect.

After a traumatic experience, many people develop beliefs that are untrue about themselves and the world. EMDR therapy helps people gain clarity about what they could or could not do about a traumatic situation they may have been in and where they are now. The experience creates pathways to new perspectives and reality.

What other PTSD treatment program does TalkDr Christian Counseling provide?

TalkDr Christian Counseling utilizes a variety of approaches for the treatment of PTSD. Below are some examples:

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Talk therapy (psychotherapy) is when you work with mental health counselor in a structured way, attending a limited number of sessions. CBT helps you become aware of inaccurate or negative thinking so you can view challenging situations more clearly and respond to them in a more effective way.
Group Therapy: Your sessions take place either alone with a counselor or in a group with others. This freedom to choose is a defining feature of our trauma treatment program. We also make use of cognitive-behavioral therapy in your treatment. This is because survivors often develop negative thinking patterns as coping mechanisms.
Prolonged Exposure (PE): This form of PTSD therapy teaches individuals to gradually approach their trauma-related memories, feelings and situations. They presumably learn that trauma-related memories and cues are not dangerous and do not need to be avoided.
Trauma Prayer: is a prayer technique that helps heal childhood trauma. The trauma prayer can be used with long-term, difficult-to-heal conditions - especially for conditions that have not been healed from past prayers, counseling, or medical interventions.

When you’re ready to begin healing, TalkDr Christian Counseling in Franklin, Tennessee is here to help. If you would like to learn more about our facility and professional staff, then email us or call 615-985-TALK. We will help you work toward a future of healing, choice, and clarity with EMDR therapy.