Is EMDR Right for me?
How EMDR can help anxiety, self worth, relationships & more
Hello readers. Welcome back to the Virago Blog, where we try to provide as much information as possible for women (and everyone!) on the road to recovery from adverse past experiences like trauma. You’ve probably heard about EMDR as an evidence based treatment for PTSD and trauma, but did you also know, EMDR can be used for almost anything from the past that continues to impact the present? Did you also know, there may be sneaky things from your own past that affect you day to day? Sometimes clients come to EMDR because they are all too aware of how something from the past is sticking with them. But if you’ve ever felt like you are spinning your wheels in talk therapy, finding yourself returning to the same issues over and over, EMDR might be something to consider. Issues from people pleasing, anxiety, low self worth and self esteem, struggles in relationships, and more, can stem from negative past experiences that EMDR may help you work through. In this blog post we are going to cover who’s a good candidate for EMDR and help you answer the question, “Is EMDR right for me?” Virago Wellness offers EMDR therapy in South Portland, Maine for women in recovery from trauma and other experiences.
What exactly is EMDR?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing is a mouthful that essentially translates to trauma reprocessing. It’s healing without talk therapy. This research based therapy model was created by Dr. Francine Shapiro in the 1980’s. Dr. Shapiro developed what would eventually become EMDR, a way to help untangle the past from the present. This helps restart the natural, innate healing process that didn’t get to occur at the time of the event. Read more in our past blog post here.
Here’s a short and not an exhaustive list of some things that EMDR can help with:
Anxiety and panic attacks
Shame and low self-worth
Childhood emotional neglect
Fawning and people-pleasing
Sexual trauma and boundary violations
Grief and complicated loss
Relationship wounds and betrayal
Medical trauma or accidents
Birth trauma or postpartum distress
What to Expect in EMDR therapy?
EMDR has 8 Phases and 3 Prongs. At Virago Wellness, we use our unique relational approach in Phase 1, to partner with you and collect a detailed history to help understand how the past impacts the things that you are struggling with today. Together we’ll create a list of Target Memories for Reprocessing in the First prong: The Past. In Phase 2, your therapist helps make sure you are ready for the reprocessing that will occur in Phases 3-6 because digging up the past, like resetting a broken bone that didn’t heal right, can be painful. We don’t want to throw you in the deep end of memory reprocessing. We want to ensure you feel ready and empowered to communicate anything you might need to your therapist. Memory targets are reprocessed with eye movements, audio tones, or tapping, using what’s known as Bilateral Stimulation to activate one side of the brain and then the other to help keep the emotional intensity at bay. You’ll have a stop signal and can pause anytime if something feels like too much or you just need a break for any reason.
How to Know if You’re Ready for EMDR?
There are a lot of signs someone is ready for trauma reprocessing like EMDR. A huge sign is you feel ready. If you’ve felt like you want more progress than talk therapy is providing, if day to day life is pretty stable and you can tolerate a break from talk therapy for some deeper work, and you have some well practiced skills for self care to manage any big emotions that come up, it’s probably a good time! If you feel like things from the past just keep following you, you’ve tried to let go but you can’t, and you're sick and tired of the big emotions that come with things from the past, then it might be time. Some other signs include: You have no major life changes coming up like job changes or moves, you’ve done some work in talk therapy before, you have good coping skills, medications or other health issues are well managed, and you can’t think of any other reason not to start. And, don’t worry, your Virago Wellness EMDR therapists in Maine and New York will do a very thorough screening for readiness so you can relax and let the women’s trauma therapy experts be your guide.
Why Women Choose EMDR at Virago Wellness
Helping you heal from the things from your past that haunt you today is the whole reason we are here. Our founder and Clinical Director Nikki Yardy, is a trauma expert, person in recovery from C/PTSD, EMDR client, and EMDRIA approved Consultant and HAP Facilitator teaching our therapists how to do EMDR. Our EMDR therapists have been trained by an expert who is not only a teacher having mastered the art of EMDR but a client who has sat on the couch and faced the monsters of the past herself. Virago Wellness therapists are trained from a perspective that takes into account what it’s actually like to live with impacts of trauma, informed by someone who has been there.
Ready to find out if EMDR is Right for you?
At Virago Wellness in South Portland, Maine, we offer a variety of EMDR options including EMDR in one hour sessions covered by insurance and EMDR trauma healing intensives for more complex histories with a master practitioner. Contact us today to schedule a free phone consultation to learn more about EMDR, answer any questions you have, and find out if this evidence based treatment is the right fit for you.
