EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing): EMDR is a method of psychotherapy, extensively researched and found useful for the treatment of various forms of trauma. Along with other interventions, EMDR may significantly reduce the effects of anxiety, depression and panic attacks.
Our brains store fear based emotional memories. Trauma causes an over excitation of a specific area of the brain. Information is “frozen” in its original anxiety-producing form, which may include the original image, negative self-assessment, and emotion. When this cluster of information is triggered, intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, nightmares, somatic difficulties and other unwanted symptoms may occur, as in PTSD. EMDR is a therapeutic modality that desensitizes and integrates the “frozen” information, allowing the traumatic imagery to defuse, the negative emotion to neutralize, and cognitive restructuring to occur.
