EMDR
A confidential space to explore the thoughts, feelings and challenges in your life
“Trauma affects the entire human organism—body, mind, and brain.
I am an EMDR practitioner and trauma specialist and have been working with EMDR for 14 years. EMDR helps deal with trauma, historical sexual abuse, phobias, grief and somatic disorders. I work with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing. The theory behind EMDR is that traumatic experiences are not processed in the brain. Instead of becoming part of your memory in a healthy way, traumatic memories are stored separately and can become fixed. Those fixed memories hold the distressing emotions and bodily sensations felt during the past difficult experience. Once a traumatic memory is triggered, those feelings may be re-experienced. In EMDR therapy, those upsetting memories are reprocessed with the help of bilateral stimulation (eye movement or tapping) to become integrated into the brain’s memory network. You don't forget the trauma, but it ceases to impact you so significantly.
Attachment Focused EMDR
Dr Laurel Parnell created AF-EMDR after integrating the latest research on attachment theory. Understanding how the lack of safety and security in the developing brain can then develop various, sometimes difficult, attachment styles can help us focus on the causes of the trauma. These attachment styles can carry on into adulthood, negatively affecting our ongoing relationships.
This type of trauma can include sexual or physical abuse, neglect, parental betrayal or having parents with drug or alcohol abuse problems or mental illness.
There may be psychological, emotional, physical, and spiritual symptoms in response to trauma
How It Works
EMDR - How it works
Trauma can be reprocessed and integrated using Bilateral Stimulation and visualisations so that it no longer has a profound negative effect on your current life.
In your first session, we will get to know each other. I will take your history, and you will talk about your problem and symptoms. Then I will give you a brief overview of EMDR and explain how reprocessing works in theory and practice. This is an opportunity for you to talk about what is bothering you and any concerns you may have.
With AF-EMDR, you will visualise and internalise a peaceful place using your imagination. Imagination can impact the brain similarly to lived experience, creating new neural pathways.
Some symptoms of trauma
Flashbacks
Intrusive thoughts
Easily startled
Difficulty concentrating
Feelings of stress or anxiety
Panic attacks
Relationship problems
Avoiding trauma memories
Feeling like you have to keep busy
Emotionally numb or cut off from your feelingsfeeling Physically numb or detached from your body
Using alcohol or drugs to avoid memories.
Feeling alone
Feeling like you can't trust anyone
Feeling like nowhere is safe
Blaming yourself for what happened
Overwhelming feelings of anger, sadness, guilt or shame
Bilateral Stimulation
Bilateral Stimulation simply means stimulation of both sides of the brain through movement. This can be eye movement, left /right tapping, or alternate sound in the ears. In EMDR Therapy we use this method to assist the brain in processing material.
There are two ways I work with bilateral stimulation online:
Butterfly Hug
This is a form of hand tapping, in which you cross your arms over the heart and tap the shoulders alternately.
Corners of the Room
Another option is the corners of the room. This means I would guide you to move your eyes from left to right by looking back and forth from the corners of the room. ou are sitting in.
We would work together to find the right way for you.
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PTSD
PTSD is the name given when someone's trauma symptoms persist for longer than three months after the traumatic event.
Not everyone will develop PTSD, and many find that their symptoms will fade over the first three months. However, about 30% of people who experience traumatic events will develop PTSD.
Counselling and therapy can help with these symptoms and experiences and EMDR can be particularly helpful.
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Get in touch
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions You can also call me on 07973784898 if you would prefer to leave a message.
©2021 Joanna Goodfellow
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