EMDR Therapy
“Healing is a somatic process. When there are wounds of the psyche they are held in the body. It’s not until we can experience those wounds in a very embodied, physical way that we can begin to untangle the injury.”
- Tara Brach
Experienced, Licensed EMDR Therapy in Los Angeles
Working with the nervous system and body sensations to heal the impact of traumatic events
EMDR is a technique that works with the nervous system and body sensations to heal the impact of traumatic events. I utilize EMDR as a tool in a long-term psychotherapy relationship or a patient can come to me for a stand-alone session of EMDR for a traumatic event.
The therapists at Los Feliz Psychotherapy often utilize EMDR to help with the trauma that occurs in early relationships with our caregivers - called attachment-focused EMDR. This can include abuse and neglect but can also be helpful with more subtle wounds that most of us have experienced in our lives. In EMDR, we focus on building a feeling of resilience so that even when an individual is processing painful experiences, they feel safe and connected to themselves.
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Patients who experience the lingering effects of childhood trauma often experience: emotional flashbacks, a loud, tyrannical inner critic, shame that will not let up, social anxiety, deep feelings of loneliness and abandonment, low self-esteem, developmental arrests, persistent relationship difficulties, strong mood swings, dissociation, fight/flight response and suicidal ideations.
These feelings are difficult for an individual to work through on their own because of the unique ways that victims suffer with shame in childhood. The toxic shame that abuse and neglect produces in a person is a barrier because one may not feel good enough or entitled to heal.
A person with trauma often feels disconnected from their own playfulness, creativity and cannot access their own sene of inner wisdom. They may feel completely cut off from themselves and live in a state of hypervigilance and reactivity. They may feel that they are in a trance. In this trance, they can’t play, learn, bond or take in love. They may be cut off from a sense of wholeness or a sense of belonging to our own selves.
We provide EMDR and other somatic (in the body) therapies to help an individual find a sense of safety within themselves. We do this by finding resources within that are comforting. Because childhood abuse and neglect are so damaging to all levels of the individual, healing takes using many approaches. We will use EMDR (and other somatic approaches) as well as cognitive-behavioral therapy, mindfulness, psychodynamic exploration and grief work.