Trauma is what occurs when we experience an event that is too shocking, frightening or painful for us to be able to get over it fully. In trauma, we protect ourselves by locking up the painful feelings in the emotional side of our brain, where they are preserved intact with all their original intensity - this process is called dissociation. As a result we develop negative and unhelpful reactions - anxiety, avoidance, inhibition, hostility - whenever we are confronted with new situations that resonate with the old memory.

Trauma can be divided into ‘large T’ trauma, single and major life events such as being the victim of assault, being involved in an accident, losing a loved one unexpectedly and so on. Far more frequent, however, are ’small t’ trauma, experiences that, while less visible, become traumatic through their repetition such as rejection, neglect, criticism, feelings of insecurity etc.

EMDR allows us to reintegrate the painful event into our conscious mind in a more objective way, without the extreme emotions or unwanted reactions.

EMDR Eye Movement De-sensitisation and Reprocessing is a unique form of therapy that was developed by Francine Shapiro at the end of the 1980s, in California. It uses alternating bilateral stimuli - hand movements, sounds, touch - that enable the mind to recreate the links between the left and right, rational and emotional, hemispheres in our brains.

It has been likened to the process that occurs when we dream.

Some examples:

Claire has very low self-esteem and often feels guilty about her bouts of anger and hostility towards others. She has already suffered from depression, stress and burn out. As an adolescent she attempted suicide. Despite a childhood and a family that appeared completely normal, her parents always showed her that her needs were less important than those of her siblings.

As a child, Emily lost a close friend. Her uncle committed suicide when she was an adolescent, and shortly afterwards her mother was diagnosed with an agressive form of cancer. From this point on she began to abuse alcohol to calm her anxiety and dampen her painful emotions.

Jean is afraid of expressing his own emotions, and has developed a serious depression. He grew up with a mother who couldn’t cope and an abusive, rejecting step-father. He learned from an early age to try and please others in order to avoid conflict and rejection.

Julie’s parents were always fighting and their fights were so violent that she felt safest when she was ignored, and was constantly on the alert so that she could get out of their way. She feels constant anxiety and doesn’t know where to go with her life.

For more information :

http://emdrassociation.org.uk/whatis-emdr/

Trauma is what occurs when we experience an event that is too shocking, frightening or painful for us to be able to get over it fully. In trauma, we protect ourselves by locking up the painful feelings in the emotional side of our brain, where they are preserved intact with all their original intensity - this process is called dissociation. As a result we develop negative and unhelpful reactions - anxiety, avoidance, inhibition, hostility - whenever we are confronted with new situations that resonate with the old memory.

Trauma can be divided into ‘large T’ trauma, single and major life events such as being the victim of assault, being involved in an accident, losing a loved one unexpectedly and so on. Far more frequent, however, are ’small t’ trauma, experiences that, while less visible, become traumatic through their repetition such as rejection, neglect, criticism, feelings of insecurity etc.

EMDR allows us to reintegrate the painful event into our conscious mind in a more objective way, without the extreme emotions or unwanted reactions.

EMDR Eye Movement De-sensitisation and Reprocessing is a unique form of therapy that was developed by Francine Shapiro at the end of the 1980s, in California. It uses alternating bilateral stimuli - hand movements, sounds, touch - that enable the mind to recreate the links between the left and right, rational and emotional, hemispheres in our brains.

It has been likened to the process that occurs when we dream.

Some examples:

Claire has very low self-esteem and often feels guilty about her bouts of anger and hostility towards others. She has already suffered from depression, stress and burn out. As an adolescent she attempted suicide. Despite a childhood and a family that appeared completely normal, her parents always showed her that her needs were less important than those of her siblings.

As a child, Emily lost a close friend. Her uncle committed suicide when she was an adolescent, and shortly afterwards her mother was diagnosed with an agressive form of cancer. From this point on she began to abuse alcohol to calm her anxiety and dampen her painful emotions.

Jean is afraid of expressing his own emotions, and has developed a serious depression. He grew up with a mother who couldn’t cope and an abusive, rejecting step-father. He learned from an early age to try and please others in order to avoid conflict and rejection.

Julie’s parents were always fighting and their fights were so violent that she felt safest when she was ignored, and was constantly on the alert so that she could get out of their way. She feels constant anxiety and doesn’t know where to go with her life.

For more information :

http://emdrassociation.org.uk/whatis-emdr/

Trauma is what occurs when we experience an event that is too shocking, frightening or painful for us to be able to get over it fully. In trauma, we protect ourselves by locking up the painful feelings in the emotional side of our brain, where they are preserved intact with all their original intensity - this process is called dissociation. As a result we develop negative and unhelpful reactions - anxiety, avoidance, inhibition, hostility - whenever we are confronted with new situations that resonate with the old memory.


Trauma can be divided into ‘large T’ trauma, single and major life events such as being the victim of assault, being involved in an accident, losing a loved one unexpectedly and so on. Far more frequent, however, are ’small t’ trauma, experiences that, while less visible, become traumatic through their repetition such as rejection, neglect, criticism, feelings of insecurity etc.

EMDR allows us to reintegrate the painful event into our conscious mind in a more objective way, without the extreme emotions or unwanted reactions.

EMDR Eye Movement De-sensitisation and Reprocessing is a unique form of therapy that was developed by Francine Shapiro at the end of the 1980s, in California. It uses alternating bilateral stimuli - hand movements, sounds, touch - that enable the mind to recreate the links between the left and right, rational and emotional, hemispheres in our brains.

It has been likened to the process that occurs when we dream.

Some examples:

Claire has very low self-esteem and often feels guilty about her bouts of anger and hostility towards others. She has already suffered from depression, stress and burn out. As an adolescent she attempted suicide. Despite a childhood and a family that appeared completely normal, her parents always showed her that her needs were less important than those of her siblings.

As a child, Emily lost a close friend. Her uncle committed suicide when she was an adolescent, and shortly afterwards her mother was diagnosed with an agressive form of cancer. From this point on she began to abuse alcohol to calm her anxiety and dampen her painful emotions.

Jean is afraid of expressing his own emotions, and has developed a serious depression. He grew up with a mother who couldn’t cope and an abusive, rejecting step-father. He learned from an early age to try and please others in order to avoid conflict and rejection.

Julie’s parents were always fighting and their fights were so violent that she felt safest when she was ignored, and was constantly on the alert so that she could get out of their way. She feels constant anxiety and doesn’t know where to go with her life.

For more information :

http://emdrassociation.org.uk/whatis-emdr/

Trauma is what occurs when we experience an event that is too shocking, frightening or painful for us to be able to get over it fully. In trauma, we protect ourselves by locking up the painful feelings in the emotional side of our brain, where they are preserved intact with all their original intensity. As a result we develop negative and unhelpful reactions - anxiety, avoidance, inhibition, hostility - whenever we are confronted with new situations that resonate with the old memory.


Trauma can be divided into ‘large T’ trauma, single and major life events such as being the victim of assault, being involved in an accident, losing a loved one unexpectedly and so on. Far more frequent, however, are ’small t’ trauma, experiences that, while less visible, become traumatic through their repetition such as rejection, neglect, criticism, feelings of insecurity etc.

EMDR allows us to reintegrate the painful event into our conscious mind in a more objective way, without the extreme emotions or unwanted reactions.

EMDR Eye Movement De-sensitisation and Reprocessing is a unique form of therapy that was developed by Francine Shapiro at the end of the 1980s, in California. It uses alternating bilateral stimuli - hand movements, sounds, touch - that enable the mind to recreate the links between the left and right, rational and emotional, hemispheres in our brains.

It has been likened to the process that occurs when we dream.

Some examples:

Claire has very low self-esteem and often feels guilty about her bouts of anger and hostility towards others. She has already suffered from depression, stress and burn out. As an adolescent she attempted suicide. Despite a childhood and a family that appeared completely normal, her parents always showed her that her needs were less important than those of her siblings.

As a child, Emily lost a close friend. Her uncle committed suicide when she was an adolescent, and shortly afterwards her mother was diagnosed with an agressive form of cancer. From this point on she began to abuse alcohol to calm her anxiety and dampen her painful emotions.

Jean is afraid of expressing his own emotions, and has developed a serious depression. He grew up with a mother who couldn’t cope and an abusive, rejecting step-father. He learned from an early age to try and please others in order to avoid conflict and rejection.

Julie’s parents were always fighting and their fights were so violent that she felt safest when she was ignored, and was constantly on the alert so that she could get out of their way. She feels constant anxiety and doesn’t know where to go with her life.

For more information :

http://emdrassociation.org.uk/whatis-emdr/