Healing Trauma with EMDR
(Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)

EMDR is a therapy technique that makes it possible to heal from the symptoms caused by traumatizing or disturbing life events. Francine Shapiro, the founder of EMDR, compares the brain’s response as it heals from trauma to the body’s reaction when it is cut. She says “When you cut your hand, your body works to close the wound. If a wound is repeatedly irritated, it festers and causes pain. Once the irritant is removed, healing resumes. EMDR therapy shows that a similar process occurs with mental and emotional responses.”

EMDR is used to help the brain recover from traumatizing experiences that have, for one reason or another, been blocked from healing. Often, the block to resolving trauma involves what we think about the experience, or the meaning it holds for us. EMDR makes it possible for the brain to reprocess traumatizing information so that its response is more adaptive, which allows the trauma symptoms to heal.