EMDR was created in the 1980s to successfully treat PTSD in Vietnam War Veterans. Since then, its repertoire has expanded to treat a multitude of mental health challenges such as anxiety, trauma, phobias, C-PTSD, childhood abuse, OCD, anger, social anxiety, and so much more. EMDR tends to work faster than regular talk therapy. Naturally, this depends on depending on the complexity of the issue being worked on.

A typical session involves very little discussion about feelings or details of the client’s trauma. Instead, the client tells the counselling therapist relatively little and the counsellor gives the next prompt while keeping the client from getting lost in past events. Even though this sounds simple, it is surprisingly effective. 

Karen Gawne the Counsellor entered the EMDR training program with significant skepticism. How could therapy possibly work without talking about feelings? Receiving treatment herself caused a change of heart when her lifelong fear of going to the dentist faded. Although she still finds the dentist’s office unpleasant, the pain of her childhood experience – and the resulting negative self-beliefs – is gone. 

Since then, Karen has treated many clients using EMDR and has experienced success with all of them. Relationships have evolved, fears have been released, negative thoughts have been silenced. The way that this therapeutic method changes lives is worth learning more about.  

For more information about EMDR, reach out to our office or copy and paste the link: https://emdrcanada.ca/about-emdr/