EMDR therapy for traumatic experiences

When I might need EMDR?

• After psychologically traumatic event.
• Sexual abuse
• Physical abuse
• Psychological abuse, bullying
• Witnessing a traumatic/shocking event
• Experiencing PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder)
• Experiencing horrifying flashbacks
• Prolonged mourning
• After catastrophic event
• After huge stressful event

What is going on during EMDR therapy?

EMDR – eye movement desensitization and reprocessing – it‘s therapeutic method created by American psychologist F. Shapiro. During EMDR client is asked to remember traumatic event (I always apply the STOP rule and client always chooses how much to share), name what meaning it has for her/him and we do the bilateral stimulation (eye movements). This is a desensitization phase. During reprocessing phase, we are looking for new meanings for that traumatic event. Also, we explore the strengths and resources that client has and what helped him/her to go through this experience.

How could it be helpful?

One of the sleeping phases is called REM (rapid eye movement) phase. It is hypothesized that during this phase our memories are processed and “put into a past timeline”. During traumatic event, many strong and negative emotions are experienced, so it is hard for brain to reprocess this event and to „put into a past“. During EMDR we help your brain to reprocess these memories. EMDR is not hypnosis, it does not erase your memory or underestimates what has happened. EMDR helps you to feel less anxious and lessens the PTSD symptoms. Also, flashbacks are reported to be less frequent and less intense after EMDR therapy. More information about EMDR: https://emdr-europe.org

Prices

Consultation takes 50 min, price is 55 eur. Usually EMDR is a short-term therapeutic process and takes approximately 12 sessions, but this length varies from a person to person. EMDR could be integrated into psychological consultation.