Hurtful, Confusing, or Traumatic Experiences 

When people hear the word "trauma", most often they think of physical or sexual abuse or war/combat experience. This is simply not accurate. The term "trauma" actually refers to a wide range of events or situations that are deeply distressing or disturbing for the individual. Traumatic experiences do include war/combat experience and various forms of abuse such as emotional abuse, verbal abuse, physical abuse, and sexual abuse; however, trauma can also include seemingly common or widespread life events, such as living through a Pandemic, loss of a job or death of a loved one, experiencing a catastrophic weather event (ex. tornado or wildfire), betrayal of trust, having a friend or peer laugh at you on the playground, or going through a divorce. Hurtful or traumatic experiences can be upsetting and confusing. These experiences are the stuff from your past or what may currently be happening in your life that is keeping you unhappy, lacking clarity, and getting in the way of you moving forward. It could feel like you have one foot on the gas and one foot on the break all the time- just stagnant.  

It is true that everyone goes through difficult times in life. But if something in your life, even those events in life that are common or will eventually happen to all of us, continue to cause you distress and seem to be holding you back from the happiness or experiences you want to have in life, set up an appointment with our Jackson, MS therapist today via our Contact page or the button below and lets work on this together. You do not have to continue to bare that weight, nor do you have to work through it alone. 

Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR)

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing is an Evidenced-based practice endorsed as an effective treatment for trauma by the American Psychiatric Association, the World Health Organization, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It's fantastic that bunches of regulating bodies have researched and like this form of treatment, but what is EMDR, really?

Basically, EMDR is an intervention that activates the problem-solving processes in the brain. When someone experiences something traumatic that seems to "stick with them", often times the traumatic event continues to cause current distress for that person when remembered. These troubling memories are experienced in addition to the thoughts and beliefs that people (unknowingly/unintentionally) take or learn from that situation about themselves and about the world around them. Due to increased stress at the time, the brain does not process through the event as it normally would when we sleep every night. So when we use EMDR as an intervention in therapy, we aim to process the troubling event that did not originally get processed. After treatment with EMDR, many people report that the troubling event seems to "pop up" in their mind less often, that they feel significantly less distressed when they do think about the event, and/or that they developed new insights. This happens as a result of the brain finally processing through that situation.

Don't underestimate the power of the brain- it has amazing capabilities. It can make us feel physical pain, allow us to coordinate walking down the street, and even bring resolution and peace of mind to that horrible event that has been plaguing you all this time. Many clients report liking EMDR, not only because it works for them, but also because it works faster than traditional talk therapy and that they don't have to repeat each painful detail of the traumatic event over and over again for it to work. Bahar also offers EMDR interventions through online therapy / telehealth counseling sessions.

Of course not every intervention is appropriate for all, nor does every intervention work the same for everyone. Remember, we are all different. If you are interested in reading more information about EMDR, give us a call and we will point you in the right direction of where you can read more about who can benefit from this intervention, the process of EMDR, and the research showing the effectiveness of this often times less painful and quicker form of treatment.

Here is a 10 minute video made by the Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing International Association that provides an overview of what EMDR actually is, the process of EMDR, and the efficacy.

You can also check out the below video from the EMDRIA website that speaks from a client’s point of view.