by Sarah Steenblock
EMDR therapy allows clients to release beliefs that have been holding them back from reaching their potential and connects them with who they are, underneath the pain and confusion of past trauma and a misattuned childhood. I am inspired by the work my clients do everyday. When we do EMDR therapy, I notice an internal wisdom arise in my clients; they seem to open doors to positive beliefs about themselves and an ability to connect information that helps them feel settled and alive in their bodies. It doesn’t surprise me these experiences exist in my clients and yet I am filled with joy and amazement every time I see and hear shifts in my clients. I can see the stuck trauma unlock and start to move through their bodies as they make sense of the past through a felt experience.
When an adult comes in wanting to work on, for example, their anxiety and body image issues, we start with resourcing to make sure we both know that when we go into the uncomfortable or traumatic experiences, there are tools and ways to ground in the present and support their nervous system in knowing it’s safe enough to rest. They are supported through a process of connecting to the felt sense of their experience and the negative belief driving the show; such as “I don’t matter” or “I’m not good enough”. EMDR therapy supports the client in connecting to past experiences that initiated and over time reinforced the negative belief. The Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) system brings different parts of the brain back online and helps make sense of unprocessed events and interactions through our bodies, and impacts perceptions and beliefs which in turn influences the way we relate to ourselves and the world around us. The AIP supports the client in connecting with the younger part of them that was shamed or teased in a way that offers the support that was not there at the time; validation, attunement and safety. EMDR therapy facilitates an integration of unprocessed information that leads to an adaptive perspective; even though those events happened, I still matter and I am strong. The AIP uses sensations, images, feelings and thoughts to process the unprocessed material.
New information comes forth and clients are able to put pieces together that were unattainable before. It is a retelling or recreating rather than a reliving; bringing in information that was always there, yet distant and unconnected. With the Dual Attention Stimulus (DAS) the client has the opportunity to integrate information of feeling safe in the present with what happened in the past, letting all systems know the past is over and that the present is different and safe. One step in the process involves solidifying positive beliefs and helping clients truly feel and believe what they need to in order to show up in their daily lives and relationships and responsibilities. These are realistic beliefs that have always been alive in them and because of traumatic experiences and misattuned childhoods they were locked away in order to make sense of their present environment and survive. As children (and adults) we have a need to make sense of our environment, to orient to safety and trust that someone will take care of us. We cannot take on the belief that our caregivers are unavailable or are not interested in raising us, so we make sense of things by believing ‘I am bad’ or ‘it’s my fault’. EMDR therapy helps melt away these shameful beliefs and reconnect people to their core beliefs of knowing they matter. EMDR therapy helps people settle back into who they were born to be – alive and important and an integral part of society. I continue to see EMDR therapy undo the damage that trauma and misattuned childhoods can create.