Impacts of Trauma and How EMDR Can Help

Trauma can manifest itself in many ways and shape your emotional, physiological and social landscapes. It shows itself through anxiety, dissociation, depression, flashbacks, trust and intimacy issues, chronic health disorders, substance use, addiction, avoidance and emotional numbing. Not everyone who experiences a traumatic event is left traumatized, but some are. Trauma can also be too much of something too soon (ex: assault, fire, witnessing someone die) or too little for too long (ex: neglect, emotional and mental abuse). Clients often describe feeling “frozen in time” or “stuck in the past”. 

“Trauma is primarily remembered not as a story, a narrative with a beginning, middle and end, but as isolated sensory imprints…that are accompanied by intense sensations, usually terror and helplessness.” - - Bessel van den Kolk, MD

Trauma can disrupt the neural pathways between the thinking brain and the emotional brain. Traumatized clients often feel separate from their body and emotionally numb. These clients no longer trust themselves and are over-sensitive to stimulus, living in a state of hyper-vigilance.
Treating trauma can allow you to reconnect with the emotional and physical sensations you experience in a different way in order to feel safe in your body again. When your trauma is processed, you will not be emotionally on guard. 

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy focuses on reducing stress associated with past disturbing experiences. EMDR involves specific eye movements to access and process trauma stored in the brain. That reprocessing can change the way the memory is stored in the brain to allow you to recall a memory without the associated intense emotional response. EMDR is not like traditional talk therapy. You do not have to retell your trauma story, rather you will be guided to reconnect the fragmented imprints that have held you emotionally hostage. 

If you’re interested in learning more about EMDR, reach out today for a free phone consultation. 

Brooklyn Milner, LISW-CP