Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and EMDR Treatment
PTSD is a condition that some people develop after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. Mostly people naturally recover from the initial distress from the upsetting experience. However, sometimes our natural coping mechanisms become overloaded and result in disturbing experiences remaining frozen in our brain. In PTSD traumatic memories can be continually triggered when you experience events similar to the difficult experiences you’ve been through. For example, an overwhelming single incident like a car accident or, by repeatably being subjected to distress in situations like childhood neglect, bullying, domestic abuse, etc.
Often the memory itself is long forgotten, but the painful feelings such as anxiety, panic, anger, or despair are continually triggered in the present. Your ability to live in the present and learn from new experiences can therefore become inhibited.
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)
EMDR can accelerate therapy by resolving the impact of your past traumas and allowing you to live more fully in the present. It is not however appropriate for everyone. The process is rapid, and any disturbing experiences, if they occur at all, last for a comparatively short period. Nevertheless, you need to be aware, and willing to experience, the strong feelings and disturbing thoughts, which sometimes occur during sessions.
EMDR utilises the natural healing ability of your body. After a thorough assessment, you will be asked specific questions about a memory you find disturbing. Eye movements similar to those during REM sleep will be recreated by asking you to watch the therapist’s finger moving backwards and forwards across your field of vision. The eye movements will last for a short while then stop. You will be asked about the experiences during each of these sets of eye movements. Experiences during a session may include changes in thoughts, images, and feelings.
With repeated sets of eye movements, the memory tends to change in such a way that it loses its painful intensity and simply becomes a neutral memory of an event in the past. Other associated memories may also heal at the same time. This linking of related memories can lead to a dramatic and rapid improvement of many aspects of your life.
EMDR helps create the connections between your brain’s memory networks, enabling your brain to process the traumatic memory in a very natural way. In addition to PTSD, EMDR has found to be an effective in treatment for other mental health issues.
Anxiety and panic attacks, Depression, Stress, Phobias, Sleep problems, Complicated Grief, Addictions, Pain relief, phantom limb pain, Self-esteem, and performance anxiety.
Linda Lawler, West Leicester Therapist
My name is Linda Lawler and I am a UKCP accredited integrative counsellor and psychotherapist working in Leicester. I work with a broad range of clients aged 18 and above from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and occupations facing a wide variety of issues. Based in Leicester my practice is easy to get to. It’s on a main bus route from the City Centre and there is plenty of free street parking.