- a powerful method of doing psychotherapy.

 To date, EMDR has helped an estimated half million people of all ages relieve many different types of psychological distress.

No one knows exactly how EMDR works. However, we do know that when a person is very upset, the brain does not process information in the same way that it ordinarily does: It is as though the processing becomes stuck or stalled at a certain point. Consequently memories of traumatic events are different from memories of day-to-day events. EMDR uses eye movements, similar to those of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep to "jump-start" information processing and enable a person to reach a healthier and more adaptive resolution by processing the information as they would normal memory. In much the same way as one would focus on a stuck traumatic event, the focus can be a successful moment or admired figure in your life to process a needed resource (confidence, courage, forgiveness of self or others), enabling a person to feel more capable.

The right/left brain stimulations can be done with eye movement, earphones or hand held pulsers.

 Ginny Kelly, LICSW,  Certified in EMDR,  has over 12 years experience using this therapy successfully with children, teens and adults , for such things as childhood trauma flashbacks, nightmares, truamatic accidents, fears, phobias, anxiety, grief issues, self-esteem and performance issues. In the same way it can process out a stuck traumatic memory, it can highlight a positive thought or eliminate negative feelings associated with past events. If used as part of ongoing therapy, it will be covered by health insurance.