EMDR Therapy in Milton Keynes
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a structured psychotherapy that can help us process distressing experiences, memories and beliefs that continue to feel emotionally or physically present, even when what happened is firmly in the past.
When an experience has been overwhelming, the memory can sometimes remain connected to the emotions, physical sensations and beliefs that accompanied it. Something happening in the present may then trigger a response that feels disproportionate or difficult to understand because the nervous system is responding to something it has learned from the past.
EMDR aims to support the brain's natural processing of these experiences so that a memory can increasingly feel like something that happened, rather than something that is still happening.
What Can EMDR Help With?
EMDR is perhaps best known for its use in treating PTSD, but its application can extend beyond a single diagnosis. I may use EMDR where difficult memories, experiences or learned beliefs continue to influence how somebody feels or responds in the present.
This might include anxiety linked to particular experiences, phobias, grief and loss, difficult relationship experiences, shame, low self-worth, distressing memories and deeply held negative beliefs about yourself.
EMDR can also form part of trauma-focused work where appropriate.
Before We Begin Processing
EMDR is much more than the eye movements you may have seen demonstrated online.
Before beginning trauma processing, we spend time understanding what has brought you to therapy, your history, your current circumstances and how you respond when you become emotionally overwhelmed.
We also work on preparation and stabilisation.
Depending on your needs, this may involve grounding, emotional regulation, identifying resources and developing ways of returning to a greater sense of safety when difficult material arises.
There is no need to rush this stage. For some people it may be relatively brief; for others, particularly where experiences have been prolonged, complex or relational, preparation can form an important part of the therapeutic work.
We begin processing when it feels appropriate and sufficiently safe to do so, not simply because we've reached a particular session number.
What Happens During EMDR?
During EMDR processing, I will guide you to bring aspects of a selected memory or experience into awareness. This might include an image, thought, emotion, belief or sensation within your body.
At the same time, we use bilateral stimulation — stimulation alternating between the left and right sides — commonly through guided eye movements.
You may notice thoughts, memories, emotions, images or physical sensations emerging as processing takes place. My role is to remain alongside you, guide the process and help us notice what is happening without forcing it in a particular direction.
EMDR isn't about erasing memories or convincing yourself that something wasn't painful or significant. The aim is for the experience to become more adaptively processed, so that it carries less of the emotional and physiological intensity it once did.
The Body Matters Too
Traumatic experiences aren't always held only as a coherent story or memory.
Sometimes what remains is a bodily response: tension, nausea, heaviness, panic, numbness, a racing heart or an inexplicable feeling of danger.
For this reason, I pay attention not only to thoughts and memories during EMDR but also to what you notice somatically — within the body.
This can help us recognise how an experience may still be represented within your nervous system and notice changes as processing develops.
EMDR Therapy in Milton Keynes
I offer in-person EMDR therapy at The Bloom Room in Milton Keynes.
The Bloom Room provides a private and comfortable therapeutic environment where we can undertake both the preparatory and processing stages of EMDR at a pace appropriate for you.
EMDR as Part of Integrative Therapy
EMDR doesn't necessarily have to exist separately from other therapeutic work.
As an integrative psychotherapeutic counsellor and EMDR practitioner, I can incorporate EMDR into wider therapy where appropriate. Sometimes understanding something relationally or through an attachment lens leads us towards a particular experience or belief that may benefit from EMDR processing.
Equally, something that emerges during EMDR may benefit from further exploration within talking therapy.
This allows us to work with both understanding and processing, rather than requiring every experience to fit within one therapeutic approach.
EMDR Resources
Existing clients can access additional EMDR tools hub and psychoeducational resources through the Client Hub. An account is required to access these materials.
