EMDR Therapy in Houston, TX
(Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)
EMDR therapy can help you heal from traumatic and painful experiences.
Are you struggling with moving on from heartache and abuse?
Do you feel stuck in your past?
Do you feel disconnected from your body?
Do you experience panic attacks or other unexplained physical symptoms?
Are you dealing with post-traumatic stress?
Are you experiencing chronic pain?
What is EMDR therapy and how does it work?
EMDR, which stands for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, is a type of somatic therapy that helps people deal with distress, trauma, and other difficult life experiences. The mind has the capacity to heal itself much in the same way the body can heal itself if it has the right tools and circumstances. It is normal to want to numb our pain. People often do this with alcohol, drugs, food, sex or other substances.
Although numbing out does seem to stall the pain for a time, it always comes back. You often experience past pain and trauma in your body through somatic symptoms. Rapid eye movement therapy helps you process and get rid of this past pain and trauma.
During EMDR, you will briefly focus on the trauma from the past while experiencing bilateral stimulation of the brain. This process allows clients to “digest” traumatic experiences that seem to be stuck in the nervous system so that they can heal. There is a video below which can tell you more about this process of EMDR.
If you feel overwhelmed by trauma or a difficult past experience, you are not alone.
When people think of trauma or post-traumatic stress disorder, they often think of someone who has come back from the violence of war with PTSD. But trauma can come from many sources. You can be traumatized by someone breaking into your home, a car accident, a natural disaster, an emotionally abusive partner, childhood neglect, being bullied or even something like a job loss. There are also people who experience secondary trauma from watching others go through trauma. We saw a lot of this in Houston after Hurricane Harvey from people who did not flood, but helped and saw the damage caused to others who lost their homes and possessions.
You can’t just “get over it” with traumatic events
Despite what people may say to you, sometimes you can’t “just shake it off” and “get over it.” This advice will only create guilt and shame for people who have already been victimized and are trying to forge ahead with their lives. But it is not possible for people to get over it just because they want to. Post-traumatic stress is a very normal reaction to traumatic events. For example, even after the flooding was over and people rebuilt their homes, there were people all over Houston who would feel a sense of panic every time it rained. They didn’t want to feel scared, but they were experiencing trauma that was stored in their bodies.
EMDR Therapy can help you start to gain peace of mind and be more resilient. EMDR therapy for anxiety is also very effective.
Does EMDR therapy work?
EMDR is a highly researched form of mental health treatment.
According to the EMDR Institute, Inc., "More than 30 positive controlled outcome studies have been done on EMDR therapy. Some of the studies show that 84%-90% of single-trauma victims no longer have post-traumatic stress disorder after only three 90-minute sessions. Another study, funded by the HMO Kaiser Permanente, found that 100% of the single-trauma victims and 77% of multiple trauma victims no longer were diagnosed with PTSD after six 50-minute sessions. In another study, 77% of combat veterans were free of PTSD in 12 sessions.
There has been so much research on EMDR therapy that it is now recognized as an effective form of treatment for trauma and other disturbing experiences by organizations such as the American Psychiatric Association, the World Health Organization, and the Department of Defense. "
Eye movement therapy is a great option if you have been feeling stuck, and other types of therapy have not worked as well as you would like.
How does EMDR therapy in Texas work?
Who would benefit from EMDR therapy in Tx?
IS EMDR Therapy only For treating Trauma?
EMDR works for children, adolescents, and adults. It has worked well for people dealing with a wide range of issues including:
Anxiety, phobias, and panic
Sexual assault
Violence and abuse
Grief /Complicated Grief
Dissociative disorders
Performance anxiety
Childhood neglect
If you want relief from your symptoms, EMDR treatment in Houston, TX can help you move past the pain and roadblocks and live a more fulfilling life.
EMDR therapy for Anxiety Treatment in Houston, TX
You don’t necessarily have to have what therapists call “big T” trauma in order to benefit from EDMR. Big T trauma usually comes from extreme or possibly even life-threatening events such as war, violent crime, school shootings, car accidents, and sexual abuse. Even if you have not experienced these things, you may have dealt with upsetting events that caused “little T trauma,” and may therefore benefit from EDMR therapy for anxiety treatment.
You may benefit from EMDR for anxiety Treatment in Texas if you are experiencing symptoms of PTSD, Panic disorder, Generalized anxiety disorder, or feeling overwhelmed.
EMDR therapy in Houston, TX can help you learn to decrease negative and disturbing emotions as well as images that seem to be stuck in your mind. We know that there is an intrinsic connection between your mind and your body.
Often anxiety feels like it lives in your body in a very visceral way, EMDR can help you release the anxiety along with other negative emotions so that they feel more distant to you. When you are less anxious, you will also notice a decrease in somatic symptoms such as body aches, headaches, GI issues, cramping, and other body discomforts.
How do I know if EMDR therapy is appropriate for me?
You may benefit from EMDR if you have the following:
Feeling stuck or frozen
Trouble sleeping
Feeling unsafe
Irrational outbursts and emotionality
Obsessive thinking
Panic attacks
Flashbacks, obtrusive ideas, and memories
Feeling disconnected from your body or spacing out
Feeling unexplained muscle tension, tightness
Unexplained medical conditions
How is EMDR different from other therapies?
EMDR doesn't involve having to talk in great detail about the distressing events that happened to you or having to go into great detail about your childhood or other past traumatic events. It also does not rely on doing homework between sessions. EMDR does rely on opening up the networks that naturally allow your brain to heal instead of focusing on changing distorted thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
EMDR therapy in Texas allows you to resolve what has not been dealt with before. It usually promotes healing in a shorter number of sessions than typical talk therapy.
Pain Reprocessing Therapy - EMDR for Chronic Pain
Are you feeling like you cannot live with chronic pain another day? Is it keeping you up at night? Are you feeling like any medical treatments are just not treating the root of the issue? Treating the pain with medicine may just not be enough when there is an emotional part to chronic pain too. The mind, the emotions and the physical body are all inextricably connected.
I want you to imagine for a moment a tuning fork. It is commonly used for tuning instruments and is an unshaped instrument made of metal, but it can only create sound when struck against an object. While not something you’d immediately think of when thinking of chronic pain, it is very much like our bodies. Without pain, we create the sound we were meant to, but when the stress of the world and the pain we experience are felt for long periods of time it starts to make our tuning forks (our bodies) stop making the sounds they started with.
We can treat physical symptoms like migraines or fibromyalgia with mental health treatments such as EMDR in addition to the treatments your doctors are already trying. While pain is physical it is also mental/emotional too. EMDR practitioners have developed new treatments specifically targeting chronic pain to help people suffering get back into their bodies and experience mental relief.
The way that EMDR can help you in the treatment of chronic pain is to work on feeling new experiences in the body. Through tapping rhythmically on your chest and focusing on the pain you feel we will work to settle your nervous system over time. EMDR which treats chronic pain works on a lot of feelings and body sensations first and the potential trauma/stress that goes along with it I would love to help you get started on this journey.
You may be interested in trauma therapy in Houston, TX, but still, have some questions…
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There is not an exact number for every person, but typically EMDR therapy helps you process and heal in a shorter amount of time than traditional talk therapy. Some people start to experience changes after just a one-hour session, but often it takes several sessions to work through a single traumatic event. You may start to notice a shift within three to five sessions. If you have complex or multiple traumas, it will take more sessions and your therapist will likely integrate more than one kind of therapy for the best results.
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A lot of people worry that they will have to relive traumatic events when they talk about them in therapy. The good news is that you will have a caring, thoughtful, trained professional who will help you walk through your past at your own pace. You do not have to dig up painful memories from your past. In fact, the goal of EMDR is actually to decrease your level of distress and to reduce the disturbance of painful memories from your past. Your therapist will teach you skills you can use to soothe uneasiness and distress and help you feel safe. Ultimately, the goal is to help heal you, so you will feel better in the long run.
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You don’t necessarily need to remember specific memories. A trained therapist can work with whatever memories, feelings, or experiences you do have to help you process and “digest” distressing things that are going on for you. Often the process of doing EMDR will help you be more connected to what has happened, and, therefore, gives you more access to make changes and let go of the past pain and build resilience.
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Psychological trauma occurs when stressful events cause you to feel helpless, out of control, alone or threatened. Trauma impacts your brain physiologically which will affect your mood, and behavior and can create physical symptoms. There can be what professionals call “big T” Traumas such as abuse and the violence of war, as well as “little T” traumas such as being bullied or feeling rejected or shamed. Both of these types of trauma can take a toll on you and cause you to feel traumatized.
How can I deal with distressing feelings?
We all deal with a lot of negative feelings we wish we could get rid of - stress, fear, anger, irritation, etc. What if I told you there was a way you could contain upsetting feelings till you are ready to work through them? In this container exercise video, I walk you through the steps for noticing distress in your body and containing it. It may not make all of the bad feelings go away, but it will at least cause a big reduction in those feelings so that you feel lighter.
Who is EMDR not appropriate for?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy in Houston may not be suitable for everyone. Your Texas therapist will assess you and determine if you are a good candidate for EMDR or if another type of therapy might be best. Here are some situations where EMDR might not be appropriate or where extra caution is needed:
1. Severe Dissociative Disorders
Individuals with severe dissociative disorders, such as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), may find EMDR too destabilizing. The process of accessing traumatic memories can sometimes exacerbate dissociation, making it difficult for the person to remain grounded during sessions.
2. Unstable Mental Health Conditions
For individuals experiencing severe mental health conditions like active psychosis, severe depression, or mania, EMDR might not be the best initial treatment. Stabilizing these conditions through medication or other therapeutic interventions is usually recommended before beginning EMDR. We have a lot of tools that can help you stabilize.
3. Acute Substance Abuse Issues
Those actively abusing substances may struggle to engage effectively in EMDR therapy. Substance use can interfere with the ability to process emotions and memories. It's often advised to address substance abuse issues first, through detoxification and rehabilitation, before starting EMDR.
4. Lack of Safety and Support
EMDR can bring up intense emotions and memories, so having a stable, safe environment and a good support system is crucial. If an individual is currently in an unsafe situation, such as an abusive relationship, addressing safety concerns first is essential.
5. Unresolved Legal Issues
When individuals are involved in ongoing legal proceedings related to their trauma, processing memories through EMDR might affect their testimony or legal case. Legal advice and coordination with legal professionals are recommended in these situations.
6. High Levels of Emotional Instability
Individuals who are extremely emotionally unstable or who have a history of severe self-harm or suicidal behaviors might need to work on developing stronger coping mechanisms and emotional regulation skills before starting EMDR.
7. Lack of Readiness
Some individuals may not be ready to confront their trauma. Readiness is crucial for EMDR to be effective. If a person feels overwhelmed or resistant to exploring their traumatic experiences, other therapeutic approaches might be more suitable initially. Your therapist can help you get to the place that you feel ready and comfortable confronting your past trauma and healing.
To get the best EMDR Therapy in Houston, TX, contact us. You can let your body and mind heal!
Schedule an appointment or have a free 15-minute phone consultation about how counseling can help you create a healthy, meaningful, empowered life.
EMDR can be done virtually over a video counseling session.
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In addition to EMDR therapy, we have other mental health services in our Houston, TX counseling office. Our caring therapists also offer:
Online Counseling, Anxiety Therapy, Eating Disorder Counseling, Family Therapy, Couples Counseling, School and College Counseling, Child Therapy, Trauma Therapy, PTSD Treatment, Parenting Counseling, Infertility Counseling, Teen Counseling, Career Counseling, LPC Supervision, LGBTQ+ Counseling.
If you’re ready to get started, please contact Wilson Counseling today. Together we can help you heal from your trauma.
