When highly stressful or traumatic events happen to us, for many, those experiences get "stuck" in the limbic part of our brains and never are able to move onto to becoming just a memory. As a result, we become reactive and hypervigilant to many stimuli and often begin to view the world as a dangerous place. This is especially true for the developing brains of children. So, events that may not seem traumatic as adults can profoundly affect and get "stuck" in the brain of children, affecting their brain wiring from a young age.
The good news is that there is now an evidence-based treatment to help "unstick" these stimuli and move them into the memory part of our brains. This approach, called EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, which is really just a fancy way to say we access that part of the brain and clear out the clogs so the brain can heal itself.
EMDR most often involves the therapist waving fingers in front of the client's eyes to bilaterally (in a rhythmic pattern) stimulate the brain. This stimulation connects the two hemispheres of the brain while the client is focusing on specific thoughts, feelings or body sensations. The movement of the eyes accesses what is know as the Optical Neural Circuitry System which is like a door into our brain wiring. Once activated in these specific ways while undergoing bilateral stimulation, the brain is able to "clear out" the stuck stimuli which heals the brain. In the same way the body heals itself, so does the brain. Sometimes the body needs help and so does the brain. EMDR is one such tool to "help".
EMDR can be done in a freeform fashion, a restricted manner or can stop at simply desensitizing a client's brain to a specific situation. Because of the way the memories are stimulated, a client does not need to verbally remember the story behind the experience or be able to put that experience into words. While having an accurate history is helpful to the therapist, it is not vital the s/he know what memories are being stimulated in the brain as this this is not a "talk" therapy.
EMDR has an incredibly robust pool of research behind it and has been recognized as only 1 of 5 medical models accepted by the World Health Organization. If considering EMDR, please take time to read up on this process. We recommend starting with
https://www.emdria.org/page/emdr_therapy which comes directly from the National Association for trained EMDR therapists.
To set up an Initial Consultation, please contact us at (630) 290-3384 or drsarabrandtscheduling@gmail.com.
