EMDR

When the past still lives in the present

There may be experiences in your life that you know are over - and yet something inside you still responds as though they are happening now.

A particular situation, tone of voice, place or relationship may suddenly bring up a strong emotional or physical reaction. You may feel anxious, tense or overwhelmed. Perhaps you withdraw, shut down or feel disconnected. Sometimes your body reacts before you even understand why.

You may know with your mind that you are safe today - while your body seems to tell you something different.

EMDR can support the processing and integration of experiences that continue to affect you in the present.

What is EMDR?

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing.

It is a therapeutic approach originally developed to support the processing of traumatic and distressing experiences. Today, EMDR is also used with experiences that continue to affect how we feel, respond, relate and experience our bodies and nervous systems.

During an EMDR session, bilateral stimulation may be used - for example, alternating eye movements, touch or sounds.

The aim is not simply to forget what happened.

Rather, the process can support the nervous system and brain in processing an experience so that it no longer carries the same overwhelming charge and can become more clearly experienced as something that happened in the past.

Could EMDR be helpful for you?

EMDR may be worth exploring if you notice that something from your past continues to affect you today.

You may recognize yourself in some of these experiences:

certain memories or images keep returning
particular situations trigger reactions that feel stronger than you expect
you become tense, overwhelmed or internally restless
your body responds with tension, withdrawal or a sense of shutting down
you understand something intellectually, but your body continues to respond differently
shame, guilt or fear continue to affect how you see yourself
you want to feel safer and more at ease in relationships or everyday life
you have already done a lot of thinking and reflecting, but something still does not seem to shift

EMDR can be used with individual distressing events as well as more complex life experiences.

You do not need to know whether Emdr is the right approach for you. We can explore that together.

Safety comes first

Traumatic or deeply distressing experiences can affect our sense of safety and our capacity to regulate. For this reason, we do not simply begin by bringing up difficult memories.

First, we create a foundation of safety and stability. We may spend time becoming more familiar with the signals of your body, strengthening resources and developing ways to support your nervous system. Only when this feels appropriate for you do we consider moving into more focused processing.

You are always part of deciding the pace. You do not have to share anything you are not ready to share. And you do not have to describe every detail of an experience in order for us to work with it.

What can you expect in an EMDR session?

Every session is different, because every person and every story is different.

We begin by arriving in the present moment and noticing what is here. We explore what is bringing you to therapy and what you would like to be different.

If EMDR feels appropriate, we decide together what to work with and how much processing feels manageable at that time.

During processing, memories, emotions, physical sensations or thoughts may arise. Nothing needs to be forced. We pay attention to what is happening while also returning to the present moment and to your sense of safety.

Sometimes change can feel very noticeable. At other times, it happens quietly and gradually.

At the end of a session, we take time to reconnect with the present, integrate what has emerged and support your body in settling again.

You do not have to relive your story

You may be wondering:
“Do I have to tell everything and feel it all again?”

No.

EMDR does not mean exposing yourself to an experience until it feels exactly as it did at the time. We work in a way that allows you to remain connected, as much as possible, to the present – to the awareness that you are here, now, and that you are no longer in the situation that happened then.

The aim is to support your system in experiencing something different: greater safety, processing and integration.

EMDR and the body

In my work, I look beyond the story or thoughts surrounding an experience. I also pay attention to how your body responds to it today.

Distressing experiences can continue to influence how we experience tension, closeness, boundaries, safety and our own needs.

For this reason, awareness of the body can be an important part of the process.
We do not work against your body.
We learn to listen to it.

EMDR is not always the answer

EMDR is one of the approaches I work with – but it is not automatically the right approach for every person or every situation.

You may first need more stability, resources or connection with your body. At another point, a different therapeutic approach may be more supportive.

We do not have to choose a method before we understand what you need.
We can discover that together.

Taking the first step

You do not need to know exactly what you need before you come. Perhaps you simply know that you do not want to keep feeling the way you have been feeling.

Perhaps you want to feel safer in your body. Perhaps you want to understand why certain things still affect you so deeply. Or perhaps there is a specific experience that you sense is ready to find its place in the past.

We begin where you are. At your pace. With what is possible today. And with the intention of creating more space for you to live in the present.