Some traumatic events can haunt you for years. If ignored, their impact can extend to all faculties of your life, ruining even the most perfect situations. While considering ideal ways to deal with the past traumas, Brooklyn EMDR wins on many fronts. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) traces its roots back to the 1980s, initially used to help people deal with traumatic memories. Today, it is a go-to for many dealing with various concerns beyond PTSD. This includes treating anxiety, depression, phobias, and chronic pain, to mention a few disorders.

EMDR is an eight-phase treatment. It entails recalling the traumatic experiences as you move your eyes back and forth following a therapist’s guidance. The treatment aims to help you process the events and integrate them into your standard memories. The approach follows the concept that re-experiencing the traumatic event’s feelings when distracted is not as upsetting. Repeated exposure can help reduce the effects and their hold on your life. Among the notable EMDR benefits include:

  1.     Recover after a traumatic event

Traumatic events can get a hold of you, especially since most people suppress the experiences. Suppressing the events mean that the least triggers can bring back the experiences, sending you back into chaos. EMDR, through the bi-lateral stimulation, engages both sides of your brain. This helps you reprocess and distress the memories.

Instead of suppressing the memories, you integrate them with your standard memories, which help you recover from the traumatic experience. It is an ideal treatment that can help you deal with those nightmares, anxiety attacks, or depressive episodes caused by life traumas like the loss of a loved one, divorce, bullying, and abuse, to mention a few.

  1.     Alter your beliefs

Traumatic events like rejection, even during childhood, can linger to adulthood. They have the power to shape your beliefs. Some people develop negative beliefs, such as being unworthy of love. Others strive for perfection, beliefs that can significantly affect the quality of your life. EMDR treatments help you alter such beliefs.

The treatment strives to take such power away. It shows that such negative beliefs are simply among the many interpretations of the traumatic event. This helps you look more into the positive interpretations, transforming the beliefs. Everything has more than one interpretation. Traumatic events mostly gear your mind to the negatives, which you can alter through EMDR treatments.

  1.     Fast-track treatments

Are you in talk therapy but are not realizing as much as you would like? Such therapy sessions help, but they can take an extended period. Moreover, you might not be as good at vocalizing your experiences, which can derail your progress. EMDR does not entail talking about every detail of the memories. This makes it more comfortable. You can use the treatment to fast-track the progress, improving your quest to deal with traumatic experiences.

  1.     Manage daily stress

Daily stress, if left unmanaged, can take a toll on your life. Burnout is a common problem, for example, associated with stress. EMDR does not only work if you are overly overwhelmed. You can turn to therapy to deal with daily stresses, unburden yourself and enjoy improved productivity.

EMDR provides more of an ongoing-self-improvement tool, helping you to keep stress at manageable levels. This makes it easier to maintain healthy relationships and improve your work performance and overall health. Silencing those self-destructive inner voices telling you “I can’t” come in handy in many ways. This makes EMDR therapy an invaluable addition to your health and wellness regimen. Contact David Salvage, M.D., FAPM today to learn more about EMDR and how it can help you treat past and present traumatic events.