Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR)
Process your past to start living in the present.
What is EMDR Therapy?
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It’s a specialized type of therapy designed to help you process and heal from traumatic experiences and troubling memories.
EMDR is very effective when it comes to clients struggling with past traumatic or difficult experiences. It is an evidence-based therapy that uses bilateral stimulation (either side-to-side eye movements or tapping on arms or legs) to process past traumatic experiences and reduce their impact on your current mental state.
What can EMDR help with?
Trauma & PTSD
Imagine someone who experienced a severe car accident. Since then, they have vivid flashbacks and intense anxiety around driving. EMDR can help eliminate flashbacks and ease the anxiety related to driving.
EMDR is also effective for chronic, complex, or childhood trauma which can involve many traumatic events.
Performance Anxiety
A musician who experiences crippling anxiety before performances might struggle with their career. EMDR can help process the underlying fears and anxieties associated with performing, leading to greater ease and confidence on stage. EMDR can help with performance anxiety related to public speaking, sports, social settings, and more.
Anxiety & Panic
Imagine a person who experiences anxiety or panic attacks related to small spaces. EMDR can assist in processing the fear and anxiety, making it easier for them to manage their emotions and approach situations with more confidence. EMDR can help with all symptoms of anxiety including hypervigilance, sleep issues, and more.
Negative Beliefs & Self-Sabotage
A person who has a persistent belief that they are “not good enough” might find this belief affecting their career and personal life in a variety of ways. EMDR can shift these negative beliefs by processing any underlying emotions or memories, leading to a healthier self-image and more adaptive behavior.
Depression & Shame
Imagine someone who grew up with constant criticism from a parent might struggle with low self-esteem and persistent feelings of worthlessness. EMDR can help reprocess these negative core beliefs and emotional wounds, leading to improved self-worth and a more adaptive outlook. EMDR can help those who struggle with self-esteem and self-confidence.
Relationship Issues
Someone who has difficulty maintaining healthy relationships due to past experiences might benefit from EMDR to address their underlying emotional pain and fears, leading to more fulfilling and stable relationships. Examples include beliefs about not being deserving of love or respect, which can make it difficult to set healthy boundaries or find healthy relationships.
What should I expect from EMDR therapy?
*Please note that EMDR is only offered virtually by Megan Strachan*
EMDR therapy involves meeting every week or every other week.
We start by getting to know each other a bit, ensuring that EMDR is a good fit for your background and goals, and then we begin the preparation and processing phases of EMDR.
Preparation involves developing safety, resourcing skills, and a "map" of what we are going to process using EMDR.
The processing phases involve accessing, activating, and moving through the emotions and sensations associated with the targeted memories or reactions, with their associated negative beliefs. We also do work to strengthen a new more adaptive belief.
EMDR therapy is not designed to be a long-term treatment - it has a beginning, middle, and end point. However, depending on the circumstances, it may take several weeks or several months.
Learn more about the phases of EMDR therapy:
How does EMDR work?
Imagine your mind as a large filing cabinet.
Throughout life, you store various experiences and memories in this cabinet, neatly organizing them into folders. However, when you go through a traumatic event, it’s like a drawer gets jammed or a folder gets misfiled.
EMDR therapy helps to put these files into their rightful place - whether they are explicit memories or distressing emotions or sensations.
By focusing on distressing memories or sensations while engaging in guided eye movements or other types of bilateral stimulation (such as butterfly tapping), EMDR helps your brain process and reintegrate past experiences. This allows you to file them away correctly, reducing their emotional charge and making it easier to manage them.
We focus on shifting the negative core beliefs that accompany the distress (for example, "I am worthless", "I am powerless", or "I am not safe") and installing something that feels more adaptive (for example, "I am valuable regardless," "I am ok", or "I can learn to protect myself and survive").
Questions about EMDR?
Get in touch!
Explore EMDR therapy in Ontario, Alberta, BC, and Quebec
I know you may have some questions about EMDR, therapy itself, or our approach in general. That’s what this initial consultation is for!
During our first call, you can ask any questions you have about therapy, and I'll tell you a bit about myself and how I work with clients. If you feel comfortable and think we’re a good match, we can discuss the next steps.
I’m looking forward to talking to you.
-Megan Strachan