Psychotherapy
trauma-informed approach
connecting the mind and body for lasting results
We are more than our thoughts. In fact, our thoughts come to us subconsciously more than we are consciously aware. Our body will react milliseconds before we realize what is actually happening. That’s why providers at WellMind address your traumatic experiences in various ways to include techniques that involve top-down (cognitive therapies), bottom-up (meditation, progressive relaxation). EMDR actually incorporates both top-down and bottom-up approaches as well as a horizontal approach using bilateral stimulation integrating left and right hemispheres of your brain for resolution of your traumatic experiences. You can find out more about how trauma shows up in our body by reading Bessel van der Kolk’s book, The Body Keeps the Score.
EMdr therapy
Trauma are memories mis-stored in our nervous system
Trauma is a brain thing. It is how we (and our nervous system) relate to adverse experiences. When we experience an event, our nervous system reacts to protect us…freeze, fight, or flee. Sometimes our nervous system stays in the alert or dorsal vagal (shut down) mode as it does not know you are no longer in that experience. Trauma, like PTSD, are unprocessed maladaptively stored memories in the nervous system.
These memories are “stuck” and unprocessed as a reminder of danger for your own protection. It’s like when someone almost drowns and, subsequently, they have panic attacks around large bodies of water. Your nervous system is still on alert and your brain has not integrated the memories of the event.
EMDR stands for eye-movement desensitization & reprocessing. It’s a treatment that targets a painful memory, and with sets of rapid eye movements (or tactile or auditory bilateral stimulation), your brain and nervous system begins the process of “integration and reinterpretation” of the memory, as noted by Bessel van der Kolk in his book, The Body Keeps the Score. Basically the memory no longer is right in your face causing so many issues but placed in the past separating the emotion from the memory.
EMDR is a rapid and gentle therapy; and approved by the DoD, VA, and WHO as an evidence-based treatment for PTSD. It is also proven to help with various other conditions. Many people like that they do not need to expose all details of the memory. EMDR is more about integration and insight rather than desensitization.
What is EMDR Therapy?
Trauma are adverse experiences locked in shock within the brain
How do Eye-Movements & bilateral Stimulation help reprocess traumatic events?
It’s a brain thing!
