Trauma affects every person differently. Some get by relatively unscathed, while others aren't as lucky. They may carry their trauma with them throughout life, including into their relationships with others, the workplace, or social situations. Fortunately, Cathy Graf, a licensed family therapist, offers online therapy to those in Utah, California, Florida, and Idaho, and can help you by providing trauma therapy, including EMDR, whether you have PTSD or other mental health concerns from trauma.
What's EMDR?
This acronym stands for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. Think of it as a reorganization process for your thoughts. We basically help you take a memory and reprocess it in the brain. This works as trauma therapy because it helps a traumatic memory your brain couldn’t process the first time get unstuck and stop vividly resurfacing.
The concept behind this treatment is that sounds, sights, smells, or other triggers will cause you to re-experience an event until it is processed. By reprocessing the experience gradually, you'll become less likely to suffer from PTSD symptoms.
What to Expect During EMDR
EMDR is a multistep process that will require multiple visits with our practitioner but tends to work faster than other methods of therapy.
Our therapist will get to know your medical history and specific situation. You'll receive trauma therapy specifically for the event affecting you. The treatment's goal is to desensitize you to negative memories, images, or thoughts associated with the trauma. While our practitioner is focusing on your traumatic event, she'll ask you to concentrate on bilateral stimulation, like tapping or blinking lights. Your mind will then go blank, allowing for feelings and thoughts to pop up at random. You'll then exchange the thought for a positive belief or image.
The therapy may need to continue on that specific memory to ensure it's reprocessed correctly. We can perform EMDR on other memories as well.
EMDRs Safety
The goal of the treatment is to stop the pain and other symptoms associated with trauma. Handling the memories associated with PTSD can be distressing. However, you won't have to recall memories in-depth for a prolonged time during this treatment, making it an ideal solution for those who would rather not do talk therapy.
Though it's safe for most people and a better solution for many, it can still cause unwanted effects, like:
- Lightheadedness
- Vivid dreams and sleep disturbances
- Increased sensitivity to emotions or sensations
- Temporary intrusive thoughts or flashbacks
- Mood changes
Our licensed family therapist, Cathy Graf, helps clients through telehealth mental health visits, including EMDR, in Utah, California, Florida, and Idaho. The treatment overall is safe and less intrusive than other trauma therapy modalities, making it ideal for all severities of cases.