What We Treat
01.
Stress is a feeling of physical, mental, or emotional overwhelm resulting from one’s perception that they’re unable to cope with physical, mental, or emotional pressure. Our ability to respond adaptively to life stressors determines how impactful those stressors will be on our physical and mental health. Generally, our response to stress is informed by past experiences that are similar. When past experiences are not processed properly in the brain, we learn maladaptive ways of coping with stress. EMDR is utilized to treat past memories that are informing present reactions to stress, as well as treating current stressors and preparing for potential future stressors.
02.
A phobia is a persistent, excessive fear of certain objects or situations. They most commonly involve animals (dogs, snakes, spiders, etc.), natural environments (heights, water, thunder, etc.), situations (driving, flying, elevators, etc.) blood/injury/injections (needles, seeing blood, etc.), and other types of phobias (choking, vomiting, contracting an illness, etc.). Phobias often result in extreme efforts to avoid the feared object or situation, and/or the situation is endured with significant anxiety and distress. There is often a conditioning event that sparks the development of a phobia. EMDR treats phobias by targeting previous encounters with phobic objects or situations, as well as preparing clients for potential future encounters.
03.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - PTSD is a mental health disorder that some people develop after exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence. PTSD is only one of many mental health conditions that develop as a result of exposure to chronic or single incident traumatic experiences. Depression, Anxiety, and Panic Disorder are examples of other mental health conditions that may arise from exposure to trauma. Symptoms of PTSD include nightmares, flashbacks, intrusive thoughts and/or images, poor sleep, avoidance of stimuli associated with the traumatic event, mood lability, and negative cognitions.
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Single Incident Trauma - Single incident traumas are typically a big event that happens once, such as a car accident, sexual assault, natural disaster, medical diagnosis, war zone experience, or other violent crime. Francine Shapiro, Ph.D. originally created EMDR to treat PTSD. It has since been used successfully to treat a wide variety of mental health disorders.
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Complex Trauma - Complex trauma is the repeated exposure to non-life threatening, adverse life experiences over an extended period of time. The adverse experiences often begin in childhood and typically involve attachment relationships (caregivers, siblings, family friends, etc.). Neglect, sexual/physical/emotional abuse, “hot and cold” affection from a caregiver, and repeated exposure to bullying and social exclusion are examples of complex trauma.
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People who have experienced complex trauma often report intense emotional flashbacks, hypervigilance, difficulty trusting others, chronic guilt or shame, negative self-beliefs, difficulty regulating emotions, dissociation, relationship friction, avoidance strategies, frantic reactions to perceived abandonment, and myriad other things.
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Dissociative Disorders - Dissociation is an adaptive process that helps us get distance from an experience, and is often experienced as a felt sense of detachment. It helps us regulate emotion and body sensations that feel overwhelming. Dissociative processes may present as difficulty remembering conversations, big and small events, and childhood in general. It may present as the sense that things around you aren’t “real” and/or the feeling that you’re an outside observer of your own body. Disruptions in identity and sense of self are also common. Brain fog, lost time, emotional numbing, mind chatter, unpredictable mood swings, and high pain tolerance are other potential indicators of dissociative disorders.
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04.
Experiences of love, safety and connection with caregivers are foundational to our sense of self, others and safety in relationships. These attachment patterns inform adaptive and maladaptive emotional and behavioral responses in future relationships. Childhood experiences of abuse or neglect can lead to attachment-related behaviors that cause chaos, conflict, and distress in relationships.
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Secure Attachment is generally experienced as safety in relationships. An ability to be vulnerable and ask for support, trust others, address feelings and needs directly, receive feedback non-defensively, work toward repair after conflict, and balance connection and independence.
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Anxious Attachment manifests as a desire for connection accompanied by an intense fear of rejection and abandonment. Hypervigilance includes scanning your partner for changes in tone, body language, communication and availability - essentially, sensitivity to perceived threat of loss of connection. When connection feels uncertain, common behaviors include overthinking, reassurance-seeking, emotional dysregulation, worrying about how others feel about you, difficulty tolerating distance, frantic attempts to reestablish connection, and prioritizing connection over your own needs.
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Avoidant Attachment manifests as discomfort with closeness, minimization of emotional expression, the urge to pull away when someone gets close, difficulty communicating about emotions, resistance to becoming dependent on others, and compulsive self-reliance.
Disorganized Attachment often presents as a combination of anxious and avoidant strategies.
05.
According to the World Health Organization (2021), about 280 million people suffer from depressive disorders worldwide. It is one of the most common mental health conditions and can significantly impact one’s quality of life. There is a close relationship between depression and stressful events. Exposure to trauma, humiliation, loss, and household dysfunction increases the risk of developing depression. We have a tendency to create meaning and negative beliefs from adverse life experiences. Pathogenic memories of these experiences can lead to a variety of mental health conditions, including depression. Irritability, anger outbursts, sleep disturbances, loss of interest in previously enjoyable activities, sad/low mood, emptiness, lack of energy and motivation, weight gain or loss, and feelings of guilt or hopelessness are some of the symptoms of depression.
06.
Many mental health issues are caused by adverse life experiences that get stored maladaptively in our brains and labeled as dangerous. This often results in developing hypervigilance to threat. Since the brain is trying to protect itself from further distressing events, it encodes adverse experiences in a way that enables quick response and reaction to actual or perceived threat. When situations arise that remind us of past experiences, our bodies quickly mobilize into a fight, flight, freeze, or fawn response. You may or may not remember the initial experience that was recorded in the brain as a blueprint for future reactions to distressing experiences. EMDR it utilized to treat the distressing memories that are fueling your anxiety.