18 changes you may notice after an EMDR Intensive Program

After EMDR Intensives you will feel less fearful

When you have experienced a traumatic or highly stressful event, the memory or memories of the event may not be processed in the same way, as day to day memories and can get stuck in your nervous system. When a memory is stuck and not integrated - meaning not stored like other memories then it keeps getting triggered in your life through your senses (see, hear, taste, touch, smell). So, you may be more fearful or on edge because you have not healed from that traumatic experience.

Through the process of EMDR Intensive Therapy we “integrate” memories into their rightful place.

2. New perspectives; self & others.

3. A felt sense of strength, being embodied, & more in control.

4. A deeper connection to joy.

5. A calmer nervous system.

When we are under threat, our amygdala - the ‘smoke alarm’ in our brain - gets set off, and we experience an unconscious fight/flight/freeze survival response. The hippocampus is the part of the brain that dates and times a memory - this process can be suppressed at the time of a traumatic or distressing event. The memory then gets stuck in our nervous system. We may at times feel like we are reliving the event - experiencing the thoughts and feelings we had at the time of the trauma.

Often, we do not make the conscious connection to earlier events that affect us now - particularly our childhood experiences that we dismiss, as unimportant or they happened so long ago - the body remembers everything.

The process of EMDR therapy temporarily slows your over-stimulated amygdala down helping you process the traumatic memory.

6. Understanding the narrative of your experience.

7. Memories don’t have the same hold.

8. Being present in your life.

9. Openness to your own emotional experience(s)

After a traumatic event we avoid any reminders and our emotional experience; instead, we do anything we can to avoid any painful or distressing feelings. You may feel emotionally overwhelmed or scared to feel and/or you may not know what to do when these feelings arise. This can lead to dissociation or disconnection from your body, as a way to avoid - you may do this by distracting yourself, eating more, drinking, using substances, binging TV, or movies, scrolling, working more…..

“An emotion is a physiological experience (or state of awareness) that gives you information about the world, and a feeling is your conscious awareness of the emotion itself” - Karla Mclaren

EMDR is a somatic therapy, releasing trauma from both your mind and body - focusing on emotions, beliefs, and sensations in your body.

Learn more about feelings v’s emotions

10. Releasing sadness & bringing restoration.

11. Restoring your integrity with less fear, shame & guilt.

12. Allowing yourself to be with anger.

13. Increased self-worth, confidence, self-esteem.

14. More energy.

After a distressing or traumatic experience, you may have flashbacks, nightmares, intrusive thoughts, and images. We continue to think about what happened in an obsessive way - trying to make sense of what happened. How things happened, disbelief you are ok, or others are ok. Your body is still in a fight/flight/freeze response and the ‘smoke alarm’ in your brain (amygdala) keeps going off, even when the trauma is long over and there’s no danger present, leading you to feel anxious or unsafe.

The use of eye movements in EMDR Intensives creates a dual taxation on your working memory. Recalling the memory and performing a secondary task (eye movements) leads to a blurring of autobiographical memories.

15. A felt sense that its ok to take up more space.

16. Setting clear boundaries with others – less people pleasing.

17. More self-compassion and empathy for your own experience(s).

18. Asking for what you deserve & are worthy of.

Sources:

Caroline Burrows Accredited EMDR Trainer and Consultant: An explanation of EMDR Therapy

Karla Mclaren (PHD, The Language of Emotions): https://karlamclaren.com/is-it-a-feeling-or-is-it-an-emotion-revisited/

Barbara J. Hensley: An EMDR Therapy Primer (3rd edition)

Bruce Ecker, Robin Ticic, & Laurel Hulley: Unlocking the Emotional Brain: Eliminating Symptoms at their Roots using Memory Reconsolidation.