Originally developed for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), EMDR can also be used to treat depression, anxiety, grief and other forms of mental health issues.  

EMDR is based on the Adaptive Information Processing model and considers symptoms of PTSD and other disorders (unless physically or chemically based) to result from past disturbing experiences that continue to cause distress because the memory was not adequately processed. These unprocessed memories are understood to contain the emotions, thoughts, beliefs and physical sensations that occurred at the time of the event. When the memories are triggered these stored disturbing elements are experienced and cause the symptoms of PTSD and/or other disorders.

Unlike other treatments that focus on directly altering the emotions, thoughts and responses resulting from traumatic experiences, EMDR therapy focuses directly on the memory, and is intended to change the way that the memory is stored in the brain, thus reducing and eliminating the problematic symptoms.

EMDR is an 8 phase treatment and isn’t necessarily appropriate for all clients. Therefore, if EMDR is of interest, a number of assessments will be conducted that will determine whether or not this is the right therapy for you.  

EMDR is an evidenced based therapy.