Are You Struggling To Overcome The Pain Of The Past?

When you feel as if you can’t move on from something, it leaves you feeling stuck. Does it seem as if every step you take is three back from where you want to be?

For many people, this is the reality of their present and future after a traumatic experience. Anyone, for whatever reason, can experience something that is traumatic to them. Whether from abuse, witnessing crimes, or even a car accident, trauma is something that many people experience throughout their lifetimes.

Feeling traumatized isn’t a choice; rather, it’s the body's response to highly distressing events or situations. These events can leave you with a number of symptoms including:

• Fears or phobias

• Depression

• Low Self-Esteem

• Anxiety

• Social Anxiety

• Avoidance

• Nightmares

• Flashbacks

• Muscle tension

• Stomachaches 

• Headaches

• Difficulty sleeping/insomnia

Some people are able to move on from their traumatic experiences and not be affected by them. However, other people find it more difficult to move on. This doesn’t mean that there is something broken with them or wrong, though. Our brains are complicated, after all.

Traumatic experiences are stored differently in our brains. When something really stressful is happening, our brains will try to protect us by almost shutting down. It seems helpful, at first, right? But this doesn’t mean we aren’t experiencing the event. As the situation is over, we are often left with fragmented pieces of what happened. Or, when we do remember them, they aren’t remembered in full detail.

Because of that, processing the traumatic experience is not always the easiest. They are processed and stored not only as memories but also alter how we see ourselves and the world around us.

For some people, traditional talk therapy is enough to work through the pain of the past; whereas others will still struggle with it. Thankfully, there is a type of therapy that can help people who haven’t found traditional therapy methods useful.

What Is EMDR Therapy?

EMDR Therapy, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing was specifically discovered as a way to reprocess traumatic events and to help those experiencing PTSD symptoms. 

During one of our sleep stages, REM, scientists discovered that this is the sleep stage where we process memories the most. During this stage of sleep, our eyes rapidly move back and forth as it recalls specific memories of the past. Using this science, eye movement therapy is used when someone is awake to reprocess painful memories of the past. 

Working with a counsellor specifically trained in EMDR, a client will be guided with specific bilateral eye movements as they recall a painful memory. Although this may sound like a scientific experiment at first, it’s a non-invasive and one of the safest ways for someone to work through past events.