EMDR Therapy in Phoenix, AZ
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy
You feel stuck. Sometimes, you don’t even want to get out of bed because there’s an overwhelming cloud of doom hanging over your head. Perhaps, something bad has happened to you or you’ve dealt with your fair share of challenges, but nothing you try has helped you move on and move past it.
When you feel upset or triggered you cope by doing things you know you shouldn’t. Maybe you get angry easily at the people you love or use substances to numb the pain. But, when your head clears you feel more miserable than before.
Sometimes, life feels very hopeless. You want to make positive and lasting changes in your life, but you’re not sure where to start. You may even think, what happened to me wasn’t that bad, I wouldn’t call it trauma, so I feel silly talking to a trauma therapist about it, Or, perhaps, you’ve tried therapy before, but it hasn’t really helped, or the relief was only temporary.
Maybe your child or your teen has experienced trauma or is suffering from extreme anxiety, panic attacks, or depression and you’re concerned about their future. You’ve taken them to teen, adolescent, or child therapy and even talked to doctors, teachers, and school counselors, but nothing has seemed to help them to move forward.
Trauma Impacts Many Areas of Your Life
When you’ve experienced trauma or hardship, your brain can become stuck holding on to memories of the past. This can cause you to feel irritable or easily triggered. This may make you get angry and pick fights with the people you love or fall into bouts of sadness with little reason. Maybe, you try to numb the pain or cope in the best way you know how, but that only provides you with temporary relief. Nothing you try ever touches the pain you feel inside, and this pain affects every aspect of your life.
EMDR Therapy Online can Help
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing. According to the EMDR international association (EMDRIA) “Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an extensively researched, effective psychotherapy method proven to help people recover from trauma and other distressing life experiences, including PTSD, anxiety, depression, and panic disorders.” It is a type of therapy that can help you resolve painful memories from the past so they feel less stressed now.
What do we “do” in EMDR?
During EMDR therapy, a trauma therapist uses eye movements, auditory stimulation, physical stimulation (called EMDR tappers) to help their client access the memory or pain that is stuck in their brain. A “stuck point” is whatever you’re repressing or pushing away to avoid feeling the pain it causes. This could be a memory, a trauma, feelings that cause you pain, or thoughts that make you uncomfortable, things that cause you anxiety or depression.
When stimulated, the right and left hemispheres of your brain are forced to work together. When they connect this helps you unlock the things you’re repressing. Your therapist will help you work through the distressing emotions these memories bring up by guiding you through coping and relaxation techniques. You will still remember these things, but they won’t bother you as much as they did before and you won’t be so easily triggered. Ultimately, online EMDR therapy in Arizona is a temporary treatment meant to help you move forward and continue your therapeutic journey towards healing.
Who Benefits From EMDR Therapy?
Children, teens, and adults can benefit from EMDR. I use it for online and in-person sessions. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing treat the following issues:
Trauma and PTSD
Depression
Guilt
Anger and irritability
Self-esteem issues
Performance concerns
EMDR for Children and Teens:
Often children who have experienced trauma have trouble processing what happened to them because it’s hard for them to both identify and verbalize their emotions. This may cause them to act out and be defiant, have nightmares, wet the bed, exhibit anxiety, and depression, and have trouble performing at school.
One of the main benefits of EMDR is that it helps an individual heal from their pain faster. This is especially true when working with children and teens. EMDR has been proven to be effective in helping them identify the things that are bothering them and processing that pain in a safe and supportive environment so they can heal.
How Online EMDR Therapy in Arizona Works:
The first step in any type of therapy you receive at my online counseling practice is getting to know each other. My ultimate goal is to help you and/or your child feel comfortable in your EMDR therapy sessions. I want you to feel safe and supported as you work through your challenges and learn new ways to cope with your painful emotions. While we get to know each other and you share your troubles and concerns, we will discuss treatment options and assess rather EMDR would be a good fit for your unique needs. If we both mutually agree to try it, then we will begin the eight stages of EMDR. These stages include initial history discovery and treatment planning, preparation, assessment, desensitization, installation, body scan, closure, and then reevaluation. We will talk about this more in-depth in the initial sessions.
It’s important to note that EMDR is a stand-alone treatment for any of these mental health concerns. The goal of EMDR is to help you identify the stuck point so true healing can begin.
What is holding you back from beginning online EMDR therapy?
After EMDR therapy my clients report feeling less triggered by the memories of the past. They have found relief from the symptoms of their PTSD, anxiety, and depression. They have better self-esteem and the confidence to know that they can think about what happened, stop avoiding it completely derailing their life. They are able to engage in the therapeutic process and find the lasting change they sought when they began counseling in the first place. Ultimately, they will be able to rely on their resilience and their ability to heal from the past so they can move forward in peace.
Begin EMDR Therapy in Phoenix, AZ, or anywhere in the state.
I help kids and teens, families, and individuals who are struggling to live their life to the fullest and overcome traumatic experiences that haunt them daily. Therapy can help you find a way to process and work through difficult recurring memories. My online Phoenix, Arizona counseling practice offers several types of highly effective therapeutic modalities. I focus on EMDR, Somatic Experiencing, and Brainspotting in Arizona for those dealing with trauma and chronic stress. In your initial consultation, you will meet with me, Tahirih Herrera, your EMDR therapist, who specializes in trauma and EMDR. My goal for you or your child is to develop coping mechanisms and work through the triggers that are holding you back from enjoying life. You will leave counseling with tools to overcome your trauma and cope in difficult times. To begin your EMDR therapy follow these simple steps:
Meet with Tahirih, a skilled, EMDR therapist
Let’s talk about how you can move past the difficult memories.
Other Therapy Services and specialties Tahirih Herrera, LCSW offers:
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy isn’t the only service I offer in my online Phoenix, AZ practice. Other areas of focus and mental health services Tahirih Herrera, LCSW Counseling provides include therapy for children, anxiety treatment, pre-teen therapy, EMDR, trauma, grief and loss counseling and, therapy for teens. All these services are available via online therapy in Arizona. Therefore, you can begin counseling online from Tuscon, Mesa, Chandler, Scottsdale or anywhere in the state. Let’s begin your therapy journey today. I look forward to speaking with you.
“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, she became a butterfly..”
– Barbara Haines Howett