EMDR

What is EMDR?

EMDR Manhattan | New York City | NYCEMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a powerful psychotherapeutic practice initially developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro in the late 1980's to treat troubling symptoms of trauma and post traumatic stress disorder. It has been used worldwide since then to help clients come to terms with a wide variety of troubling conditions and problems. EMDR is used at the Center for Loss and Renewal as an adjunct to psychotherapeutic treatment to aid in the resolution of many life disabling problems, emotions and thoughts.

What Problems are Helped with EMDR?

EMDR is the most researched form of psychotherapy to date regarding posttraumatic stress disorder, and its results have proven to be effective and long lasting. EMDR has also been successfully used to help clients with:

  • Grief and Loss
  • Anxiety, Fears and Phobias
  • Adult and Childhood Trauma
  • Sexual Abuse
  • Disturbing Memories
  • Depression
  • Stress Reduction
  • Grief and Loss
  • Anxiety, Fears and Phobias
  • Adult and Childhood Trauma
  • Sexual Abuse
  • Disturbing Memories
  • Depression
  • Stress Reduction

How Does EMDR Help to Resolve Problems?

Human beings have the inborn capacity to process disturbing events and feelings. In most instances, the brain reprocesses painful information over time so that it is stored in our normal memory system. In optimal circumstances, the individual can access memories without being unduly stressed. However, there are instances in which the brain becomes overwhelmed and normal processes of problem resolution fail to achieve this desired end. Problems seem to become "frozen" in our minds, and the painful images, thoughts and feelings associated with the event seem to be "locked" in the nervous system, often out of conscious awareness. These memories then have a lasting negative effect on the individuals emotional and interpersonal functioning in the world.

EMDR helps to unlock painful and negative memories, and helps the brain to more effectively reprocess old information so that it becomes less debilitating. The use of bilateral stimulation of the brain via eye movements and sound allows for a resumption of the normal reprocessing so that images, sounds, thoughts, and feelings can be experienced without undue upset and disorganization.

Grief and Emdr

Often when we lose someone or something dear to us, we experience a shattering of our inner emotional worlds. Prior to our loss we base our lives on assumptions, both conscious and unconscious, about how life "should be." The loss of a loved one places us on a collision course with unrealized hopes and dreams, and consequently we are forced to grieve what is no more and what will never be. A world that once felt safe and open often becomes dangerous and limiting.

Grief is a natural, unlearned process that unfolds in a unique manner for each person. Coming to terms with loss is a journey in which the individual discovers how life can be meaningful in spite of shattered assumptions. However, there are numerous obstacles along the path of grief. Many bereaved individuals struggle with powerful feelings of depression and lack of meaning; fear and loneliness; unrelenting guilt over words said and unsaid, and actions completed and uncompleted; and, deep anger as a result of a literal and figurative abandonment which assaults our conceptions of fairness and order.

Many people progress along the path of grief without encountering serious setbacks. Others, however, encounter painful emotional roadblocks that keep the individual stuck in suffering and discomfort.

EMDR is a powerful tool that can aid in clearing roadblocks so that the bereaved individual can continue to progress on the grief journey towards its natural end: learning to love the deceased person without overwhelming suffering in a state of absence rather than presence. EMDR has the potential to remove emotional toxins that result from painful events during the dying process. When these toxins are removed, the individual is freer to engage in the reconstruction of a meaningful existence in which memories serve to enhance life rather than impede it.

  • For answers to frequently asked questions about EMDR, please click here.

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