Online EMDR Therapy - How Trauma May Affect You
Do you feel like your life is clouded by a layer of anxiety and discomfort? Maybe you generally feel fine, but occasionally have intense emotional surges that cause problems in your life? Or, maybe your family upbringing was severely impacted by an insensitive or cruel caregiver, and you never learned to feel comfortable and secure in your life?
Trauma can mess up your life with changes in mood, energy, and self-esteem. It can lead to anxiety disorders, depression, substance abuse, insomnia, sexual dysfunction, and other problems. Symptoms of trauma can be especially common if you had a difficult family upbringing.
For some people, traumatic experiences lead to feeling “too much, too often.” For others, feeling chronically “numb” becomes the new norm.
No matter how you cut it, trauma can have major effects on your life. If left untreated, it can harm your work performance, relationships, and overall well-being.
“From the unnamed vastness beneath the mind, I breathe my way to wholeness and healing.
Inhalation. Exhalation. Each breath a "yes," and a letting go, a journey, and a coming home” -Dana Folds
How an EMDR Therapist Can Help
EMDR trauma therapy can resolve or reduce the emotional, psychological, and physical health symptoms associated with trauma. EMDR therapy has undergone extensive research and is an evidence-based treatment for trauma and adverse life experiences (EMDR research overview). EMDR is particularly effective for resolving reoccurring traumatic memories.
At Winding River, your well-being is our top priority. We build warm, supportive relationships with our clients to ensure therapeutic goals are achieved.
Many people have fears about starting EMDR therapy. More than most forms of trauma therapy, EMDR is known for being “intense.” For some clients, therapy will proceed quickly. And for others, we’ll slow down the process and offer a softer form of EMDR therapy.
EMDR therapy operates with the basic foundation that you the client get full authority over how therapy proceeds.
EMDR therapy will start with teaching you new ways to calm emotions and stressors, and to live day-to-day life with increased ease and comfort. EMDR, like most therapies, is filled with empathy, warmth, and gentle therapeutic care. However, unlike many other forms of therapy, EMDR uses a powerful method for reprocessing old memories and associated emotions.
A Brief Explanation of EMDR Therapy
Conventional talk therapy targets the rational brain (prefrontal cortex). With EMDR, the focus is on the emotional and nonverbal/ nonconscious parts of the brain where memories are stored. By accessing stuck material in these areas, therapy can ease the burden of painful memories and their associated symptoms of anxiety, depression, substance abuse, low self-esteem, insomnia, and sexual dysfunction. As you work through painful memories and emotions, you will gain the emotional freedom needed to revive your life.
EMDR and IFS therapy tend to work very well together, and we at Winding River can effectively combine these two modalities, upon request. Read more here about IFS therapy
You can read extensively on EMDR through the official EMDRIA webpage: About EMDR therapy
Free Phone Consultation
Berkeley EMDR therapy (online): We know how important it is for you to choose a therapist with whom you feel comfortable talking with. So we invite you to book a free, 20-minute phone consultation: here. Or, contact us directly to schedule a time, or to ask questions: (510) 761-9818, or admin@windingriverpsychotherapyservices.com. You can ask any questions you might have about EMDR Therapy and our therapy services. Based in Berkeley, CA and online throughout California.