Suffering Doesn’t Have To Be A Life Sentence.
What makes EMDR especially helpful is that it provides relatively quick relief. While EMDR is known for treating trauma, it can treat most symptoms that keep happening and keep us stuck. Many individuals experience some form of relief after the first session. Many others report significant relief and even resolution of their distressing symptoms within four-five sessions.
A compilation of research shared by the EMDR Institute reveals that the positive impact of EMDR therapy is significant. In fact, the success rate in some of these studies indicates amazing rates of recovery and lasting benefit after working with a qualified therapist for six to 12 sessions. Consider the following:
The creator of EMDR, Francine Shapiro, Ph.D., worked for many years in the Veterans Administration, striving to provide relief to veterans who were suffering from flashbacks, nightmares, feelings of emptiness and meaninglessness, guilt, anxiety, and hyper-vigilant responses.
She was told repeatedly by psychologists, therapists, and colleagues that the veterans she was working with were beyond help—that nothing could be done to relieve the trauma surrounding their war experiences. However, she couldn’t accept this. She knew they needed help. They deserved help. So she used the latest research from fields of neuroscience, clinical psychology and psychotherapy, trauma theory, and memory networks to develop her technique of EMDR.
In the beginning, the technique took time for her to develop and for her clients to be successful in. They didn’t have a way to process their horrible war experiences and come back to being fully present in the present moment. What was a way we humans have always naturally processed trauma?
Dreaming.
We dream as a part of REM Sleep. That’s when our bodies and minds are healing, integrating, and processing all that we’ve gone through during the day. What if she could use this to accelerate the therapy process of healing the traumas of the past?
The brain needs the body to be relaxed. Do you know how difficult it is to be relaxed if you’ve spent years at war? If you’ve seen your comrades die? If you’ve killed people yourself? Some of the veterans she was counseling had witnessed horrible things in war. She knew they needed to be relaxed to allow their brains to process their experiences enough to move beyond them.
What if there was a way she could speed up the process? A way she could get them to be relaxed enough to allow their brains to move on from their traumas?
Instead of spending hours talking, she’d have them talk only briefly, so they could be in that relaxed state. Then she would walk them through specific protocols that would help revisit the traumatic experiences. And in revisiting them, she could help them process through their trauma, almost instantly. She started to see what the best therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists before her had seen—that the brain has an amazing ability to move on from horrible experiences.
Now, EMDR is not unique to just war veterans. Anyone that has experienced trauma can use EMDR to help them process and move through their trauma. Through EMDR, we find that we are far more connected and resilient as a species than we could have ever imagined. Each of us have an amazing ability to heal from trauma and move into more peace and happiness more quickly than we ever thought.
EMDR can be effective in treating the emotional disturbances associated with traumatic memories while avoiding much of the discomfort associated with alternatives.
EMDR involves bringing up related past, present and future experiences while in a state of bilateral stimulation, usually by following your therapist’s finger as it moves back and forth across your field of vision. As the EMDR process unfolds, you will notice that your thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about the event will change, and that you feel less emotional arousal when you think about it.
For example, when we dream, and the brain takes that time to rewire itself. In a sense, the brain is going through the nightmares in our dreams to try to make sense of the trauma we’ve experienced.
The thing is, we dream so quickly, and we forget what we have dreamed almost instantly. It’s like the brain says to us, “I’m working on figuring it all out, don’t worry. Don’t stress out. Just dream.”
This means that the brain has a natural way to rewire itself. We just have to somehow trigger it to do so. EMDR therapy helps to do just that.
EMDR helps to trigger the brain to work through and process the trauma while in a relaxed state. While you are comfortably reclined, the EMDR expert therapist will connect you with your inner feelings and thoughts, and also connect you to the trauma. This makes your brain feel safe.
Your brain feels safe to explore the trauma because you have a safe place in the therapist’s room. The therapist is incredibly safe, caring, and loving, and is with you through the whole process in a very loving and supportive way.
Next, the therapist will have you pay attention to the trauma. However, you won’t be asked to verbally describe the entire event in the session. Instead, you will be asked to describe a brief summary of the experience, and you may be asked to note what emotions you feel and where you feel them in your body.
Once the therapist has a good idea of what you experienced, they will engage you in a series of eye movements while you think about the trauma. This is when the therapy gets very interesting as you feel your brain rewiring itself. You will be asked to notice any changes in the intensity of your emotions and thoughts, and then your therapist will ask you to focus again on the trauma image and eye movements. You may feel the emotions change even more. This is your brain rewiring.
The therapist will guide you through this process a few times, and then ask you to think about other things in your life and how you feel about them. You may now find that you feel very differently about the trauma. That things have changed. It’s like the brain has had a chance to process through the trauma, understand it, and accept it as something you made it through. You will feel more at peace, more relaxed, and more confident and secure. You are safe. You will feel stronger, at peace, and like you can move forward with your life. That’s the power of EMDR.
“You aren’t broken.
You have pieces that need to be put back together, creating the beauty that is already within.”
I am Mandy Morris, a therapist and co-founder and clinical director of Mosaic Counseling Group. Mosaic was started in 2014, and we have been word of mouth for all these years. My beautiful community in Loganville, Ga, is where the practice is located.
My wide range of training ensures the most efficient and effective results. You will receive a personalized treatment plan. I'm passionate about equipping individuals through empathic support, psychological tools, and evidence-based treatment plans to improve your overall quality of life.
When I'm not being a therapist, I enjoy hiking, anything outdoors, movies, poker, and my therapy dog Beau!
Treatment Approach
I use a range of techniques, including Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), art, and other expressive therapies. Your treatment plan will be uniquely tailored to what works best for you.
Education & Certifications
Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) # LPC008195
EMDR Certified Clinician
Certified Anger Management Specialist-II (CAMS-II)
B.A Psychology
M.A Clinical Counseling
Executive Coach | Licensed Professional Counselor | EMDR Therapist | International Best Selling Author | Speaker
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