By:  Jennifer Youdom, LCSW-C

EMDRIA Consultant in Training

 Anxiety.

Just the word brings a felt sense of this anticipatory emotion. I know for me I can feel the knots in my stomach and the tension throughout my body as I simply think about the concept of anxiety.

While anxiety includes a broad range of topics (including phobias, panic, performance anxiety, OCD, social anxiety, agoraphobia, hoarding, trichotillomania, skin picking, etc.) and can seem like a daunting task to attend to, there are numerous studies showing the effectiveness of EMDR in treating anxiety disorders. Research indicates that participants who engage in EMDR have significantly reduced symptoms of anxiety. Here’s how EMDR therapy can help treat anxiety:

1. Processing Traumatic Memories

Anxiety often stems from unprocessed traumatic memories. EMDR helps individuals process these memories by guiding them through a series of eye movements (or other form of bilateral stimulation) while...

By:  April Lehman, LPC

EMDRIA Consultant in Training  

Back in 2011, when I started my journey as a therapist, I had in my toolbox of skills several talk therapies that I routinely used with my clients. I considered myself an eclectic therapist, but I routinely used my “go-to” therapies of cognitive behavioral therapy and motivational interviewing with my clients with co-occurring disorders. After attending a 2-day, live training in 2015 with Bessel van der Kolk on his book The Body Keeps the Score, I learned more about a therapy I was only vaguely familiar with at the time—Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). Then in 2016, a coworker told me about a local EMDR training and I immediately signed up.  It’s not an overstatement to say this training changed the way I practice as a therapist. EMDR has some similar attributes of traditional talk therapy, but how does it contrast?

Let’s start by talking about how traditional...

By:  Dante Brown

EMDRIA Consultant & Basic Trainer

In a world where the mental health of children and teens is a growing concern, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) emerges as a beacon of hope. With the stresses of modern life bearing down on young shoulders, EMDR provides a pathway for young people to navigate and cope with trauma and the challenges of growing up in today’s complex world. In my practice, I've witnessed firsthand the impact of EMDR, an evidence-based therapy acclaimed for its success in treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adults, now being thoughtfully tailored to the hearts and minds of children and teens.

Why EMDR for Children and Teens?

Young people process trauma and stress through a different lens than adults; their brains are a work in progress, and often they lack the vocabulary and cognitive tools to deal with deep-seated emotions. EMDR transcends the barriers of verbal communication, making it an especially...

By:  Dante Brown

EMDRIA Consultant & Basic Trainer

 Depression: A Common Yet Complex Challenge with New Hope from EMDR Therapy

Depression, a widespread and intricate mental health condition affecting millions worldwide, casts a heavy shadow on the lives it touches. Initially designed by Francine Shapiro to address trauma-related disorders, EMDR therapy has expanded its reach beyond trauma related disorders, demonstrating promising outcomes in the realm of depressive disorders. 

Through hours of meticulous research into EMDRIA resources, podcasts, training, and experiences as an EMDR Therapist, this blog embarks on an exploration of the fusion between EMDR therapy and depression. In doing so, it illuminates how EMDR is emerging as a beacon of hope, offering solace to those grappling with this pervasive and intricate mental health challenge.

Unveiling the Potential

It's an open secret that exposure to trauma and household dysfunction, quantified by high ACE scores,...

By Jamie Sedgwick, LCPC, NCC

EMDRIA Approved Consultant

 The therapy world seems full of abbreviations for various treatment modalities: CBT, DBT, ACT, IFS…. The list can go on and begin to feel a bit like sorting through alphabet soup. With Prince Harry's and other celebrities' help, another therapy abbreviation has been growing in popularity: EMDR, which is short for “Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing.” EMDR has been catching the attention of clients and clinicians, and, like the other alphabet-soup therapies, many are wondering: What is EMDR therapy?

A Little History

EMDR was created in 1987 by Francine Shapiro, who was a doctoral student at the time. The idea to begin exploring the link between eye movements and desensitizing distressing material came to her one day on a walk (Shapiro, 2018). Francine realized that the distressing material she was thinking about became less and less uncomfortable as she walked. She also noticed that her eyes...