Are you struggling with divorce, lack of trust, infidelity? Were you in a toxic relationship and need help healing? Have you experienced domestic violence, abuse, or bullying in your relationship? Are you physically free from your ex, but still mentally and emotionally stuck in the trauma of what they did to you? Navigating life after a traumatic relationship can be hard. You are not alone.
What is Trauma?
Trauma is a response to any event a person finds physically or emotionally threatening or harmful either directly or indirectly (vicarious trauma). The basic component of trauma is not feeling safe. Experiencing or witnessing a scary, dangerous, or violent event can overwhelm your body’s natural coping abilities. Every time you think about a negative event from your past, your body produces the exact same chemicals as when it happened and you relive the experience over and over, simply because you’re stuck and haven’t healed. If you have experienced any type of trauma, you are more likely to be impacted by situations or events that can be perceived as threatening or impacting your safety.
Signs of trauma:
- Exaggerated startled response, on edge
- Heightened anxiety or fear
- Depression, sadness, isolation
- Helplessness, hopelessness, numbness, detachment
- Difficulty functioning in daily life
- Increased irritability, restlessness, anger outbursts
- Nightmares, flashbacks, “blackouts”
- Feeling guilt, shame, or excessive worry
- Avoiding certain situations/conversations, people, places
- Survivor’s guilt, self-blame that you made it out or survived the tragedy
What is EMDR Therapy?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy is an integrative psychotherapy approach that has been extensively researched and proven effective for the treatment of trauma. It is a form of treatment that helps people heal from trauma or other distressing life experiences. EMDR is designed to resolve unprocessed traumatic memories in the brain. It’s a shift in how you store memories. Signs of trauma will diminish or disappear once EMDR therapy is complete.
How does EMDR work?
EMDR therapy uses a technique with eye movements called bilateral stimulation to repeatedly activate opposite sides of the brain. These eye movements mimic the period of sleep referred to as rapid eye movement or REM sleep, and this portion of sleep is frequently considered to be the time when the mind processes recent events in the person’s life.
EMDR seems to help the brain reprocess the trapped memories in such a way that normal information processing is resumed. Therapists often use EMDR to help clients uncover and process beliefs that developed as the result of trauma. For a more detailed explanation, please visit https://www.emdria.org.
Let’s get started taking care of you
Self-care is an intentional act of meeting your own psychological, physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. You’ve heard these sayings before: You can’t pour from an empty cup. You can’t squeeze blood from a turnip. If not, it simply means you can’t give what you don’t have. Without self-care, you risk burnout, emotional and psychological instability, health issues, and more. Relationship trauma can keep you from finding love again and can cause you to neglect yourself. It’s time to work on healing so you can recognize your worth and raise your standards on how you should be treated. EMDR was originally established as helpful for PTSD, although it’s been proven useful for treatment in the following conditions:
- Processing traumatic events
- Panic Attacks, Anxiety, Phobias
- Relationship trauma
- Complicated grief
- Emotional instability
- Disturbing memories
- Performance anxiety
- Stress reduction
- Sleep problems
- Addictions
- Abuse
- PTSD
Still leery about EMDR Therapy? Think about this…
Do you have trouble moving past your previous relationship? Did you experience some things in your previous relationship that was traumatizing? Maybe you have experienced trauma in your relationship with your parents or siblings? Do you experience distressing emotions that may be excessive given the current situation? Do you tend to be highly reactive to certain triggers? Do you have negative things you believe about yourself, that on an intellectual level you know is not true?
If so, you may be a good candidate for EMDR Therapy. Schedule a free phone consultation to see if EMDR might help you let go of what’s keeping you stuck.