Welcome to EMDR Counseling & Consultation

Benefits of EMDR Intensive Therapy

Experiences with trauma or abuse can impact the way you feel about yourself, your decisions, and how you view the world around you. And when it comes to treatment, there are various options, and you may not know where to start. EMDR can help you heal your wounds and regain your freedom. The following explores what EMDR is, how it differs from online talk therapy and its benefits.

What is EMDR?

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an evidence-based treatment that allows people to heal from both symptoms and emotional turmoil that may result from traumatic life experiences.

Study after study shows that by utilizing EMDR online therapy, people can experience the benefits of psychotherapy that at one point took years to make a difference. This treatment method has established its effectiveness in treating mental health conditions such as:

• Anxiety, panic attacks, and phobias
• Chronic Illness and medical issues
• Depression and bipolar disorders
• Dissociative disorders
• Eating disorders
• Grief and loss
• Pain
• Performance anxiety
• Sleep disturbance
• Substance abuse and addiction
• Violence and abuse

Although some may prefer traditional treatment like medications and online therapy, others may find that EMDR can rev the process of healing. It’s considered to be a safe form of therapy and aims to leave you with the emotions, understanding, and perspectives that promote healthy, positive change. 

Let’s look at the benefits of both talk therapy and EMDR.

The benefits of online therapy include: 

• The goal of most types of online talk therapy is to help people express and process their inner experiences and emotions with more clarity about what is going on inside their minds. 
• It’s an excellent method for those who need to develop a greater sense of self-awareness.
• It can help you understand the conflicts, contradictions, and frustrations you are experiencing. This technique can also help you become aware of conflicting values or beliefs that pull you in different directions. 
• People often benefit from talk therapy entirely because of the healthy and trusting relationship they can create with their therapist. In addition, most people may feel a sense of security when they have a private, judgment-free, confidential space to communicate their concerns and insecurities.  

The advantages of EMDR Intensives include:

• Creating significant progress in a shorter amount of time.
• Accelerating the decrease of your symptoms.
• Intensives may better support your schedule.

In nature, EMDR Intensives are the equivalent of 1-3 months of weekly online EMDR therapy. While many are eager to participate in the EMDR intensives, a gentle reminder is an intensive therapy. It’s essential that during the EMDR Intensive, clients create time to focus on self-care to do the work effectively. People often report feeling exhausted after sessions as EMDR can be an intense process, especially with accelerated intensives.

EMDR Intensive therapy may be a good fit for you if:

•  You’ve wanted to get into regular online therapy for a while, but with a hectic schedule and responsibilities, a weekly therapy appointment feels more overwhelming than supporting.
• You need help, but you don’t want to spend months in online therapy to feel better.
• You’re willing to support and dig deep to move through old, unhelpful thoughts and behavior patterns to improve your life.

What is an EMDR Intensive?

EMDR Intensives are specialized, longer sessions that provide enough time for you to dig deep and move into an adaptive thinking mindset. Compared to traditional EMDR sessions, where you’d be spending 1 hour per week chipping away at a target, longer, more intensive sessions promote more movement, resulting in faster results.

• It’s designed to support your preferred schedule and timeline for your treatment goals.
• There is less time spent opening and closing targets, allowing more time to do the actual trauma work. 
• The results of intensive EMDR therapy often can equal weeks or months of individual weekly treatment. This means less time spent in medicine, a reduced overall cost of treatment, increased feelings of life satisfaction, and faster resolution of pain. 

How EMDR Differs From Online Talk Therapy 

In short, EMDR approaches the problem of trauma in a way that makes it more practical to address it at the most in-depth level than other forms of talk therapy.

In other words, EMDR is one of the most effective treatment approaches because it addresses the underlying issue or the root cause of your trauma. As a result, you get the opportunity to address the unprocessed memory rather than address your symptoms, such as depression or anxiety. This way, it provides more of a basic form of healing from traumatic experiences than other types of online therapy, quicker.

Which Option Is Best For You?

Here are some suggestions as to when each might be best.

Online talk therapy may be best if:

• You prefer to talk things out face to face (online). Perhaps the human interaction component is essential in making you feel validated and safe.
• You don’t have a significant history of trauma.
• You’d like to process and discuss immediate, short-term issues in your life in a confidential space.
• You don’t feel ready to reassess and tap into your traumas. Or, you prefer a slow and gradual approach.

EMDR intensive therapy may be best if:

• You’re looking to solve problems in your life if you don’t necessarily want to put a lot of energy into talking about them.
• You’re in the for the results-you’re more likely to see results with EMDR therapy more quickly than you would with talk therapy. 
• Maybe you’ve been through some stressful times or tried online therapy before without great results or success.
•  You find specific themes (like self-doubt, not trusting people, jumping the worst-case scenario, etc.) coming up in multiple areas of your life.
• You prefer the concept of resolving any underlying issues rather than your symptoms stemming from traumatic experiences (depression, anxiety, etc.).
• You have specific phobias-which EMDR has been proven to be effective in treating.
• You have a significant trauma history in your life. Memories of these events may feel intrusive or continue to impact your day-to-day life. 
• You’d like quick, fast-acting results in resolving traumatic experiences and improving your quality of life.

Effectiveness
Compared to online therapy, EMDR is often a quicker, more effective way to overcome traumas. It also provides long-lasting results. There is also a concept known as the ripple effect of EMDR, which means that it successfully targets the underlying distress that runs throughout multiple events. When you ultimately resolve one primary instance of a traumatic experience, it can positively impact other parts of your life.

So, while we may focus in session on your anxiety about work, you may be surprised to gain insight into your romantic relationship and notice you feel less triggered by conflict, for example, as well.

For some, online therapy may be the right fit. However, if you’re looking to try something less talk-oriented,  it’s certainly worth checking out EMDR.

Are you ready to start your healing journey?

Though EMDR is a highly effective therapy technique, it is not for everybody. Your EMDR Intensive Includes:

•  Pre-consultation interview to assess for candidacy, as well as target unpleasant beliefs, body sensations, emotions, or images from which you are seeking relief.

• A personalized treatment workbook allows you to work on your treatment goals before, during, and after our EMDR intensive sessions.
• A customized treatment program with targeted treatment goals. During COVID, EMDR with Rachel is done virtually, often for 3-9 sessions (1.5 to 3 hours each session).
• Post-treatment interview to assess and support your adaptation to positive changes from treatment.
• By concluding the impact of your past traumas, you can live in the present and gain control over your life.