5 signs that EMDR might be a useful next step in your trauma recovery - and why

EMDR has become a bit of a "buzz word" in media and in the realm of trauma processing, but I rarely see the conversation move to a discussion about when to utilize it. Not everyone needs EMDR when they're re-processing adverse experiences, but it's helpful to look out for signs that might tell us that we need an additional modality on board in our pursuit of recovery. Here are 5 signs that might tell us it's time to pursue Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing:

1. Talking about it doesn’t change how your body responds to the memory or the stressor.

   
   

   Sometimes, allowing that story to be held with another person and to feel it finally exist outside of the confines of our body and mind is exactly what we need. But often, especially when the body has been impacted by trauma, we need a little extra help in re-processing. That’s where EMDR may be helpful.

   
   

   Think of your traumatic experience(s) like an open file in your brain, that your brain and body became too overwhelmed to close and file away when the event happened. EMDR helps us re-encode that memory and take the severity of the charge out of it, so it feels safe for your brain to properly file it away as a past experience rather than a current one we replay on repeat in our nervous system.

   
   

2. You feel “stuck” in holding a belief that you no longer want to believe about yourself, your safety or the event.

   
   

   I hear it all the time. Sometimes it sounds like “I want to believe I can trust other people, but I just don’t.” Or, often with my client demographic, it sounds like “I want to believe I can heal, but I truly believe nothing is going to work.” Or, it can sound like “I keep telling myself I’m safe, but it feels like my body doesn’t believe me.”

   
   

   In an EMDR protocol, we call these “negative cognitions”, the beliefs or stories associated with the traumatic event(s) that get stuck on repeat in our body and mind. EMDR gives us a chance to target those cognitions and begin to write new stories, that our psyche, body and nervous system have a new chance to begin to integrate, trust and believe.

   
   

3. You’ve built your toolbox, but you’re having trouble using it.

   
   

   Maybe you’ve done years of CBT or DBT. Maybe you know how to box breathe, meditate, and have learned all of the grounding tools and skills. But then you go to use them, and you hit resistance, numbness or what feels like a brick wall.

   
   

   Sometimes, that’s dissociative. Sometimes, that’s a “freeze” response. Sometimes that’s a part of us that knows the toolbox isn’t going to change how terrifying reliving the trauma feels to our body or nervous system in that moment. Using EMDR to re-process the traumatic event and de-sensitize the trigger can create space for us to use our toolbox effectively, and for the toolbox to actually work. It doesn’t mean we feel “okay” about the traumatic event happening, it just means it doesn’t stop us in our tracks or hit us like a freight train when our brain revisits it.

   
   

4. You feel like you can’t fully access the entirety of your experience.

   
   

   This can feel like your brain is hiding material from you. Or, you feel like a “robot” when you’re describing a traumatic experience, and you can’t access the emotion that would typically go along with it. Or, it can feel like “I know something bad happened, I vaguely remember it, my body feels it, but I don’t know what it is.” We call this dissociative amnesia.

   
   

   We don’t have to know exactly what we’re processing during EMDR. Sometimes we’re trusting the body to tell us when we hit the material. We feel the intense somatic activation, and we use an EMDR protocol to help the body re-process what the mind can’t fully access. Sometimes, we do gain a little more access to memory during this process, and sometimes we don’t. Once the body fully processes the material, we work on finding acceptance around your brain’s unique relationship with how it remembers (or doesn’t remember) a particular experience.

   
   

5. You feel like your brain or body is stuck in a loop you’ve been desparate to break.

   
   

   Sometimes these are fear-based thought loops. Or, it’s rumination on a specific topic. Sometimes, it’s limerence related to new (or not new) relationship. Maybe it’s your body responding in the same pattern over and over again - an exaggerated startle response to noise, nausea when you think about a particular activity, a flushing feeling when it’s time to connect or a freeze response when it’s time to do a specific task. You try to think your way out of the cycle, but you can’t.

   
   

   That’s where EMDR comes in - we can utilize EMDR to break cycles that we’ve tried to think ourselves out of repeating. EMDR engages the hippocampus and amygdala in a way that brings up the activating material, while reducing the typical stress chemicals that often respond to it. From that place, we work through breaking the cycle and getting free.

   
   

   Even though EMDR is protocol-based, it doesn’t have to look the same for everyone.

   
   

   Let’s chat about it.

   
   

   Did any of this resonate with you? Please reach out. We can chat about it. believe that adapting an EMDR protocol to each client’s unique needs is essential, especially if we’re trying to restore agency, a sense of safety, and trust after a traumatic experience of exploited vulnerability.

   
   

   Here, this is a collaborative space where you have choice and a voice. Together, we figure out how the tools in my trauma re-processing toolbox apply to you. I believe that’s the foundation of true trauma-informed care.

   
   

   Candice Craft, LMFT