Trauma / EMDR

WHAT IS TRAUMA?
Trauma is specifically an event that overwhelms the central nervous system, altering the way we process and recall memories. Trauma is not the story of something that happened back then. It’s the current imprint of that pain, horror, and fear living inside people. (Bessel Van Der Kolk, 2014)

Trauma is a reorganizer of the self and the world. It creates adaptive behaviors that help us survive the trauma, but which become maladaptive in other areas of our lives.

Traumatic events are typically defined as incidents that are perceived as terrifying, shocking, sudden, or that potentially pose a threat to one’s life, safety, personal integrity, or that of a loved one. WHAT ARE TYPES OF TRAUMA? • Physical Abuse • Sexual Abuse • Psychological/Emotional Abuse • Spiritual Abuse • Domestic Violence • Military Trauma • Multi-Generational or Historical Trauma • Natural Disasters • Accidental Trauma • Tragic Sudden Loss

WHAT IS THERAPY FOR TRAUMA?
Trauma is treatable. However, talk therapy alone is rarely sufficient to treat trauma.

Proper treatment of trauma addresses the complete neural network, which includes the triggering events, images, emotions, physical sensations, and negative thoughts associated with the trauma. At Life Development Resources, we treat trauma using EMDR.

WHAT IS EMDR?
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a psychotherapy that enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences.

Repeated studies show that by using EMDR therapy people can experience the benefits of psychotherapy that once took years to make a difference.

Unlike talk therapy, the insights clients gain in EMDR therapy result not so much from clinician interpretation, but from the client’s own accelerated intellectual and emotional processes.

In successful EMDR therapy, the meaning of painful events is transformed on an emotional level. For instance, a rape victim shifts from feeling horror and self-disgust to holding the firm belief that, “I survived it and I am strong.”

(Retrieved from EMDRIA.org)