“There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t” -John Green
About EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing)
Sometimes we forget how powerful our brains really are. Using bilateral brain stimulation, EMDR taps into trapped memories and reprocesses them to lessen, or even diminish, the trauma associated with the memory. For example, if you have a traumatic/unpleasant memory that happened when you were five, it is stored in your body and your brain is still processing it as a five year-old. The memory didn’t grow and mature with you, it stayed where it was. EMDR taps into the healing powers of your adult brain to reprocess the memory; the memory is still there, but the traumatic response is not. According to EMDR theory, that memory, even if it doesn’t seem like a big deal to the adult you, led you to internalize a negative belief about yourself that you’ve carried since then.
Um…what?
My personal example
During training, which was done virtually, we were broken into groups and practiced on our colleagues. I experienced trauma during the birth of my second child. I didn’t talk about that day to anyone, and would tear up every year on his birthday. After 15 years, I reprocessed the events of that experience, and now I can talk about it without reaction, and crying on his birthday doesn’t even occur to me. It is just an event that happened; I haven’t forgotten the event, but the trauma was removed. Somehow my reprocessing led me to memories about my mother having a bad back my whole life; the core belief that applied to both of these instances was “I am helpless.”
But How is this Done Virtually?
This clip from the show 911 Lone Star is not a completely accurate representation of EMDR, but it illustrates how the bilateral brain stimulation is done virtually- by following a shape across your screen. The speed of the shape is controlled by me, the facilitator. It also illustrates (somewhat humorously) how random the memories can be that appear as one is reprocessing; but however random they might be, the memories matter and are connected to the bigger picture.
“Down to Clown,” 911 Lone Star, Season 3, episode 15, writer Brad Falchuck, Director SJ Main Munoz, 2022, Reamworks.
Thought Field Therapy
“Thought Field Therapy (TFT), developed by Roger Callahan, Ph.D. in 1981, alleviates emotional distress through tapping points on the bioenergy meridians (e.g. under the eye) in a specific way. A typical TFT treatment takes less than five minutes, and can alleviate phobias, fear, anxiety, depression, grief, trauma, unnecessary guilt, anger, rage, shame, embarrassment, obsessive thinking, compulsive behavior, panic, or physical pain. TFT can quickly relieve anxiety and other distressing emotions.Clients can easily learn how to do TFT for themselves anytime they need it.”
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Sometimes thinking patterns can keep us “stuck.” CBT simply challenges those ways of thinking, or “reframes” the thinking. Some therapists are die-hard CBT-ers. I am more subtle in this approach, as I may simply offer another viewpoint. Another CBT approach that I often use is guiding you in getting in touch with your negative core beliefs and working to understand how they affect your thinking patterns today, and how they may be holding you back.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) offers a more structured approach that is skills-based, almost like a curriculum that I present, we practice, and then the client implements the skills between sessions and we adjust from there. Of course, it is only as regimented as we make it (that’s the beauty of individualized sessions, we can go as fast or as slow as we want to). This was originally designed to help with personality disorders, particularly Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), but the skills can be applied to a number of situations.
Processing all the other things that life brings
Life can be so overwhelming sometimes that everything can seem jumbled, and it can get so jumbled that we can’t even process what is happening, what we are feeling, why we are feeling it, let alone what to do about it. Life is full of transitions and adapting to change; whether it’s from divorce, moving, going to college, having a child or losing a loved one. This is when person-centered therapy comes in, as I offer a safe, non-judgmental space to land, and together we can unravel the mess, reverse the spiral, calm the tornado, basically challenge whatever analogy you want to use to describe what’s happening. Remember everything is also strengths-based- you’ve got this!
