Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)  is an empirically supported, integrative psychotherapeutic modality that can help you to get unstuck and heal from difficult life experiences (Shapiro, 1987). 

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Wellstone Center for Love & Relationships offers EMDR via tele-health through a specialized, secure, tele-health platform. During processing, the therapist guides you in focusing on a distressing event and its associated thoughts, images, and feelings, while simultaneously experiencing bilateral stimulation (alternating stimulation of the right and left hemispheres of the brain), typically in the form of guided eye movements or bilateral tapping. This bilateral stimulation is believed to facilitate the processing of distressing memories, allowing you to integrate and resolve the emotional charge associated with difficult experiences and making way for new ways of thinking, feeling, and being. Through this process, the disturbing event is reprocessed, allowing you to integrate the experience without the previous level of activation and distress; this helps to reduce the severity and frequency trauma-related symptoms and an enhance your sense of balance, control, and well-being in daily life. 

 

EMDR operates on the foundational belief that the mind, much like the body, has an inherent ability to process experiences and recover from psychological trauma and difficult events (Shapiro, 2001). EMDR aids in removing the blocks or imbalances caused by these distressing events by allowing your natural healing processes to resume and enabling you to process memories and disturbing feelings efficiently. This research-based and evidence-backed therapy has demonstrated effectiveness in helping people to improve symptoms of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other challenges (American Psychiatric Association, 2004; World Health Organization, 2013).

 

While the actual number of EMDR sessions needed to meet your goals can vary depending on your individual needs and the nature and severity of the difficulties being addressed, research has found that EMDR can be effective in alleviating symptoms in as little as 3-12 sessions. One study found that approximately 84%-90% of single-trauma victims no longer have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms after only three 90-minute sessions (Shapiro, 1999). Another study found that 77% of combat veterans were free of PTSD after twelve sessions (Russell, 2008).

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Wellstone Center for Love & Relationships is committed to empowering you and helping you to transform your life, and EMDR can be a powerful toon in this journey. EMDR can help you to process difficult experiences underlying current difficulties, and help you free yourself from formative experiences that unknowingly perpetuate diminished self-esteem, feelings of powerlessness, and emotional and relational challenges in the present. We are dedicated to fostering holistic wellbeing, building connected and fulfilling relationships, and cultivating a life marked by resilience, meaning, and self-knowledge.

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Whether you are seeking to overcome past traumas or looking to build a stronger, healthier and more fulfilled future, Wellstone Center for Love & Relationships is here to help. As with all treatments, EMDR is not for everyone; your therapist will help you to explore your needs and options, and find a plan that is best for you. 

 

Book an appointment today to explore how EMDR and other trauma-focused modalities may support you in your journey! 

 

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