Trauma Brain, Trauma Body

Why am I trying EMDR Therapy? What do I think so far?

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It’s a trauma therapy that uses a process called bilateral stimulation, usually by physical touch or moving the eyes side to side, to activate both sides of the brain. This is supposed to help your mind form new connections while you are tapping into distressing memories.

My psychiatrist and I spent the first two sessions “resourcing”. Before you start the “processing” part of EMDR, you have to learn some tools to help you through it. The main two I’ve been using are a container and a safe/calm place. Both of these tools are very personalized.

For the container, you imagine an actual physical container, like a box or a jar or whatever you want. You imagine the details and the feel of it, and when you want to put overwhelming things “away”, you imagine yourself physically putting it into the container. You could even do the arm motions. You can put people inside, or times in your life, or feelings, or whatever you need. But the trick is that you have to be willing to open up the box the next time you need to confront these things, and you need to imagine yourself taking them outside the box too.

The place is a physical location you imagine that will evoke a feeling of safety, security, peace, or whatever you feel like you need. Mine is called “The Bridge”, and it’s loosely inspired by my childhood bedroom and the 1996 Matilda movie.