Which Types of Trauma Can EMDR Therapy Help?

Therapy hasn’t helped. You’ve tried them all, but the symptoms you experience since living through trauma have not abated. But what if there was another sort of treatment that could help with different types of trauma – including yours?

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy was developed to combat the psychological effects of trauma. It combines re-examining traumatic events without discussing them in detail and new association in physical eye movements. EMDR makes it possible to find trauma help by getting your brain and your mind to work together.

Different Types of Trauma and EMDER

EMDR can be effective for many post-traumatic effects and events.

Combat

EMDR has shown to be effective for veterans who have experienced trauma due to combat or other service-related events. Veteran Affairs offers EMDR in some locations and considers it a valid therapy for treating post-traumatic stress disorder.

Sexual Assault

Survivors of sexual assault can find benefits in pursuing EMDR therapy. They may appreciate the fact that the therapy can be pursued without discussing their trauma in detail.

Violence (Shootings, Terrorist Attacks, etc.)

For those who have lived through unexpected violent events, EMDR can help. It is effective for survivors of shootings, terrorist attacks, civil unrest, hostile governance, and more.

Like many trauma types, unexpected violence may cause long-lasting symptoms. These can be anxiety, hyper-vigilance, and difficulty in processing the events surrounding the trauma. EMDR can help patients find a way to process these events.

How Does EMDR Work?

Consensus on how exactly EMDR works is somewhat uncertain, though consensus that it does work is more clear. Before undertaking the therapy, it can be helpful to know more about EMDR.

Over eight phases and a dozen or so meetings, patients and their therapists will progress through the steps. They will learn more about their trauma, reprocess it, and assess how far they have come.

While patients do not need to go into detail about their trauma, they will discuss the general outline of their trauma history with their therapist early on. This can help design a treatment plan. They will also discuss ways to deal with feelings they have related to trauma.

Finally, particular traumatic memories are chosen and evaluated to see what kind of response they provoke. These will be the basis of the main treatment.

As the traumatic memories are revisited mentally, the therapist instructs the patient with eye movements. This connects the bad memory to a new motion. The memory is reprocessed in the mind, and patients find themselves able to move past the trauma.

Find Trauma Relief Today

If you are dealing with psychological symptoms after trauma, and want to cope better, consider trauma therapy today. With a wide variety of therapists available and clinical findings of success with the therapy, many types of trauma have been treated.

Whether you have lived through combat, assault, violence, or any other trauma, you can overcome it with appropriate help. Find trauma relief today with an experienced EMDR therapist.