How EMDR Therapy Can Help with Trauma Recovery: What You Need to Know

Trauma doesn’t just go away with time.

If you’ve ever had an overfilled glass of milk and attempted to walk with it, you know it’s the most precarious of tasks. Each step you take has to be calculated, your wrist has to be stable and your gaze has to flit between the destination and the state of the liquid, threatening to slosh out onto the floor. Living with trauma injury is like having an overfilled cup and that cup is your nervous system. Your nervous system, when operating as it should, has a crucial role in getting you out of trouble and it is also responsible for rest and recovery. When you’ve been overwhelmed by a traumatic incident(s), your nervous system often gets overloaded and stuck in a state of arousal. 

Signs of an overfull glass (or an overwhelmed nervous system).

There are many ways symptoms can show up. Here are a few:

Jumpy

Easily startled

Can’t sleep - fall asleep or stay asleep

Nightmares 

Alert - aware of everything and all changes, even the smallest ones

Heightened senses - hearing little noises, feeling more intensely

Physical tension

Anxiety out of the blue

Feeling panicky out of nowhere 

Having flashbacks 

Irritability and snappy

Anger and Rage

Feeling overwhelming feelings

Digestive Issues

Headaches

Most people try their darnedest to suppress, avoid, and ignore anything and everything that reminds them of the trauma in hopes the symptoms will stay at bay. The bummer about trauma is, it has to be worked out of the nervous system. Just like carrying around an overfilled glass of milk is precarious and taxing, trying to manage life as if trauma has not impacted you is near impossible. 

It comes spilling out one way or another.

Now try taking that overfilled glass of milk on a ride in your truck. Smooth sailing on the highway, but the directions rerouted and the only way through is on a gravel road. The milk is sloshing around and spilling everywhere. No attempt to stop the spill is working and finally you put the breaks on, stop the rig, and look around at the mess. 

Trying to suppress trauma or act as if it doesn't exist can “work” for a time, but it's like that overfilled glass of milk,  eventually it catches up with you and makes a mess. It just takes something same as or similar to the traumatic event to bring up the flood of thoughts, images, emotions, and physical sensations you’ve been trying to avoid. Before you know it you are taken out by the impact of unresolved trauma. 

I can’t tell you how often I hear things like “I am pretty good at work and with friends, but it’s my family who gets the brunt of my irritability.” With statements like this come a lot of guilt and shame. I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t need to be this way. It can get better and EMDR can help.

It can “just go away” with EMDR.

With EMDR therapy traumatic events can just “go away”, or in other words the intensity of feelings, physical sensations, and distressing thoughts about yourself and the world can desensitize, reprocess, and take up less room. When past trauma is targeted with the 8-phases of EMDR, symptoms reduce and the past no longer has a hold on your future. EMDR work, and it is work, takes the heat out of memories and allows you to see the present with perspective, live in the moment, and make meaning out of what is. Doing the work allows you to gain the footing in the present and stop avoiding the past. When the past is resolved it doesn’t need to continue threatening to spill out all over everywhere.  

Taking the first step with an overfull glass  (or an overwhelmed nervous system).

Taking the first step to getting help can be the hardest. Contemplating if something is going to be worth it without any proof in your own life that it does is a challenge, especially if you’ve worked long and hard to suppress your experiences and emotions. If you’ve gone to great lengths to put that overfilled glass of milk in a seal-tight container, the idea of taking the lid off will surely be daunting. I am here to say, it is distressing, yes, however the key to all of it is knowing the only way is through. Once you take the lid off, a skilled therapist will help you to manage the emotions and memories in a safe way. EMDR will be tailored to your needs and before you know it, the overwhelm will come down and you will start to feel better. 

Give it a chance. I dare ya. 

Additional Therapy Services at Sage Leaf Wellness

At Sage Leaf Wellness, we believe change and healing is possible and we have seen it with our own eyes. EMDR therapy in Saint Paul, MN, is one of the methods we rely on in our work at Sage Leaf Wellness. In addition to EMDR, we have many other modalities to support each person’s specific needs. Our team recognizes that each person's journey is unique, so we provide various therapy options tailored to individual needs. Our services include Anxiety Therapy,Trauma Therapy,Marriage and Couples Counseling, and more. Let us assist you in finding peace and empowerment through our comprehensive therapeutic practices.