In recent years, the word “trauma” has become used more frequently in day-to-day conversations as a descriptor for a negative experience.  In EMDR therapy, trauma is defined as “any distressing past experience that has not been properly processed, causing it to remain stuck in their nervous system and negatively affect present-day functioning, even if it seems minor to others.”  Over the past 5 years of using EMDR as a primary modality in treatment around trauma in my practice, I have heard many personal definitions of trauma with the same outcome: current distress, symptoms of hypervigilance, irritability, nightmares, difficulty concentrating, feeling numb, disconnected, and completely out of control.  

The exploration of trauma using EMDR is to create a space in which you feel safe enough, calm enough, and in control to soften the edges of traumatic memories and experiences.  

The goal is to use bilateral stimulation (such as tapping) to help the brain reprocess the memory and integrate the traumatic event so that it becomes just a memory and not a current threat. 

The beauty of EMDR is that it is a “bottom-up” approach, which allows us to approach the traumatic memories from a healing perspective without the need to discuss in a linear or descriptive manner “what happened.”  I am accustomed to seeing people in therapy who have talked it out for years, but do not feel any better and sometimes feel worse.  EMDR allows our brain to heal itself and take away the charge and control from trauma.