Trauma & EMDR Therapy for Adults
Anywhere in Texas
It might seem like magic. But it’s not. We are just tapping into your biological information processing system that you already have to treat traumatic memories and PTSD.”
- Patrick Hagler
EMDR isn’t your average talk therapy.
I mean sure, we do some talking, I ask you about your history, your background, the things that make you tick, and how you have come to be who you are and where you are at.
Why the struggles are there, what’s weighing you down, where your mind is at…all of it.
And then we really dig into the now (the present) and where you want to be (the future). How you want to live. And how you want to feel.
From there - your body, mind, and heart do the rest. EMDR is a process that uses eye movements (bilateral stimulation) to reprocess traumatic memories.
And while this is happening, you go through some of the hard emotions, events, and thoughts that are keeping you stuck.
Your mind creates new associations to old memories from a part of your brain that you are not able to access with conscious thought alone. Your relationship to your past changes.
In a good way.
Session after session of this, typically around sessions 3 to 5, you start to notice some shifts, and some deep changes within yourself.
It’s a specialized healing approach that uses your own biological process to tap into your own body's healing abilities.
EMDR is often a good alternative for people who have difficulty talking about their feelings. Or, simply, don’t want to relive the past by talking about it.
You don’t have to do this in EMDR therapy.
You get to have this kind of healing and this kind of relief and change in your life - and is just a few sessions away.
What EMDR sessions look like?
Sessions 1 & 2
A thorough session uncovering your history, what you’ve been through, and what you are struggling with to find what disturbing memories we need to target so we can do focused healing at the root. We then do some exercises to help you feel more calm, grounded, and safe throughout our sessions. And so you have skills to use outside of our sessions.
Session 3
All you need to do is follow my eye-movement commands and describe in detail what images are coming up in your mind’s eye. No talking about or reliving the past. The eye movements unlock your own unconscious biological systems to help you heal and fundamentally reorganize your memories from negative to neutral or positive. We will take frequent breaks to check in on how you’re feeling and what you’re thinking.
Session 4+
EMDR is then continued through ongoing sessions as we work through targeted memories one-at-a-time. Sometimes, we can “unkink” an entire chain of traumatic memories through a single targeted memory. You can get to a place of acceptance and peace with your past. We continue EMDR until all targeted memories have been reprocessed, are neutralized or feeling better.
