If you know about my profession in therapy, you know that I specialize in EMDR– Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. If you have read my website, link on Psychology Today, or LinkedIn profile, you will know what EMDR is. But… how do you know if you are a good candidate for receiving EMDR therapy?
Are You A Good Candidate For EMDR?
Well that is a great question! I have had many personal and professional experiences meeting new people who tell me their life stories. People who have lost loved ones, people who were physically, sexually, and/or emotionally abused as children, adults of alcoholic parents, finding out that you have a terminal illness, people that have been to war… the list goes on and on with some very tragic and traumatic experiences that everyday people endure!
Just by looking at them, you may never be able to tell that they have been through these things.
The aforementioned traumatic experiences could definitely lend you to benefit from EMDR therapy, but there are a lot more subtle characteristics and experiences that may qualify for EMDR treatment as well.
Here’s a short list of some things that you may be suffering with, in which EMDR may help. These could be considered “smaller traumas” or traumas that aren’t always at the forefront of our minds, but NO LESS IMPORTANT:
anxiety that impairs your daily life and/or ability to work
stress that impairs your daily life and/or ability to work
recurring memories of past events that interrupt your daily life
divorce (yours or your parents when you were a child)
childhood traumas like observing your parents fight, parents with anger management issues, or avoidance/abandonment issues
environmental disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes, fire, and flood
car accidents
history of being bullied or outcasted
The simple fact is that EVERYONE has been traumatized to some degree. What you consider to be completely “harmless” may impact someone else in a very different way.
My Personal Experience- A TRUE STORY
I was having EMDR done to me when I was going through something that was stressing me out beyond belief. The emotion behind my current mood was that I was in danger. By going through the EMDR process, I quickly discovered that the emotion to my feeling of being “in danger” in the present time was actually attached to an earlier memory in life where I felt i was in danger, thus responding to the current event exactly like I responded to that same emotion earlier in life.
That memory was cleared (not forgotten, but desensitized) so that my brain was able to separate the memories and give me a clearer picture of my present dilemma. What was causing me so much stress and agony earlier that day was gone. I was able to overcome my situation with so much more ease and confidence, being fully aware of where those other flooding emotions were coming from.
That is the power of EMDR. Just because you think you haven’t been through something that is characteristically “traumatic” like the more well known traumas of PTSD, abuse, death of a loved one, terminal illness, or addiction, it does not mean that you in some way haven’t been through hard times that still affect who you are today and how you respond to the world around you.
If you are struggling with something- if you are feeling “off” or not like yourself, and like you need to get some things off your chest, let one of our skilled clinicians be your guide with EMDR. Reach out today to find restoration and relief.
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