Can EMDR Therapy Treat Anxiety and Depression?
Written By: Linsi Grose, LICSW, LCSW
But I Thought EMDR Was Just Used to Treat Trauma?
As an EMDR-trained therapist, I’m often asked the question, “Does EMDR only treat trauma?”. In short, the answer is no! EMDR is a treatment aimed at healing severe emotional pain or disturbance. What this really means is that EMDR can not only treat trauma, but it is effectively able to provide relief in managing symptoms of anxiety, depression, and panic.
EMDR Technique
EMDR is a therapeutic technique that utilizes bilateral stimulation while imagining a stressful situation or traumatic event. Bilateral stimulation works by using stimuli such as visual (eye movements), auditory (via headphones), or tactile (tappers) stimulation to activate both sides of the brain. This bilateral stimulation works to help the brain process emotions, memories, and incidents to decrease the associated emotional charge.
Process Intense Emotions With EMDR
EMDR helps you process intense emotions clearing space for a more adaptive response, naturally decreasing feelings of anxiety and depression. After experiencing a trauma or stressful situation, our mind creates negative cognitions to “protect” us. More often than not these negative cognitions are the source of anxiety and depression. Some examples of common negative cognitions are: “I am not good enough”, “I am a failure”, and “I am worthless”. These negative cognitions may have formed through a single incident, or incorporated multiple incidents over time.
Benefits of Working With an EMDR Therapist
When working with an EMDR therapist, they will help you identify negative automatic thoughts that cause anxious feelings. As an EMDR-trained therapist, one of the beliefs I see most often is, “I am a failure”. This negative belief about self impacts your ability to perform at work and may cause you to second guess yourself, ultimately increasing anxiety and stress. We will work to identify the current symptoms you are experiencing and past experiences that relate to the negative cognition, “I am a failure”. Once we have identified your negative cognition and target memory we will begin the reprocessing work. This allows your brain the opportunity to reorganize the memory, but this time you’ll get to form adaptive positive thoughts about self.
Kick Start Your Brain with EMDR Therapy
EMDR can be a helpful tool to work through these negative cognitions to decrease feelings of anxiety and depression. You can imagine your brain as a messy closet with piles of clothes and shoes scattered throughout. EMDR functions by allowing your brain to organize memories, thoughts, and sensations into their appropriate “pile”. It kick-starts your brain to organize all of the shirts, pants, and shoes in their rightful place. Once your brain is able to get organized, your response to negative thoughts can shift drastically. Ultimately, improving symptoms of anxiety and depression, and lead to lifelong and lasting changes in your mental health and well-being.
How Will EMDR Help Me to Find Relief?
EMDR resourcing refers to skills you can practice during and after a session when experiencing distressing or difficult emotions. Resourcing is a tool to help aid you in staying calm and grounded in the present moment. Below are two commonly used EMDR resourcing tools you can use to soothe anxiety and depression:
Calm Place:
This resourcing tool is called “Calm Place”. It is a visualization technique that can be practiced to facilitate a calm state when you are feeling anxious, and dysregulated to cope. This is a tool you can come back to any time you need to access serenity or a sense of peace throughout the week. Your therapist will guide you through the visualization, while you create a place that is specific to you, and your needs.
This resource asks you to create a calm place in your mind. It guides you to activate your imagination to create a space that’s soothing. Perhaps it is on a beach or sitting in your favorite park. Notice what you see, hear, smell, taste, and touch in your designated place. A space that you find to be relaxing, and that fills you with peaceful feelings tends to offer the most serenity. While you concentrate on these calming sensations, your therapist will utilize bilateral stimulation to enhance the peaceful feeling and strengthen the positive associations. You will be able to pick a word or phrase that represents your calm place to easily retrieve this space in your mind when needed.
Container Exercise:
Another commonly practiced tool is called the “Container Exercise”. This offers an additional guided visualization technique that you can use to keep any thoughts, feelings, emotions, or sensations safe that you don’t wish to take with you after a session. By creating a mental container you are able to stream unwanted thoughts, feelings, and emotions that arise throughout the week into your container for safekeeping until you are able to process them in your next session.
This resource asks you to imagine a container with a two-way system allowing you the ability to put things in and take things out, it has to be completely enclosed and sturdy enough to hold whatever you need to put inside. Perhaps it is a lock box or a wooden chest. When imagining your container you will be prompted to envision what it feels like to hold this container and notice if there are any smells, sensations, or sounds associated with it. Your therapist will facilitate a body scan to assist you in gathering up all unwanted thoughts, memories, sensations, or feelings to help you practice using your container for safekeeping.
In Closing…
Resourcing is one of the many tools that EMDR can offer in your healing journey. You can practice these resourcing visualizations as needed anytime you experience disturbing emotions. Resourcing skills are coping mechanisms you can use to regulate feelings of anxiety and depression. You may find that some resourcing tools work better for you than others. Your therapist can help you explore this, and other ways of resourcing to find an option that best works for you.
Are You Ready to Try EMDR Therapy In Washington, DC, and Online in Virginia?
Our EMDR-trained therapists will help you to identify whether this approach is an appropriate modality to treat your particular needs for managing anxiety and depression. To learn more about our EMDR trained therapists, or how EMDR may be able to help you reach out to The Sterling Group today for a free consultation today!
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Release Yourself from Feeling Stuck and Move Forward with EMDR Therapy
Other Therapy Services at The Sterling Group
At our Washington DC-based therapy practice, we understand that trauma often manifests in various aspects of your life. With EMDR therapy, we can address these underlying issues and provide the help you need. However, there may be other areas of your life that need attention. That’s why we offer a multitude of services to support you. Our individual services include therapy for relationship challenges, therapy for developing identities and self-esteem, depression treatment, therapy for stress & anxiety, as well as executive function support. We also offer couples therapy for those that are looking to grow in their relationships. We would love to chat with you today about the ways we can support your growth at our counseling practice serving the Washington, DC area and Online in Virginia!
