Kelly O’Donnell provides EMDR therapy in St. Louis to help the community combat PTSD and to connect to whoever needs it an effective treatment of trauma.
What is EMDR Therapy?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an integrative psychotherapy approach that has been extensively researched and proven effective for the treatment of trauma.
Our approach to EMDR therapy fights PTSD to provide healing specifically for St. Louis first responders. Learn more.
When we experience trauma (or difficult experiences), our brain does not store the memory correctly. Our brain is not able to make sense of what happened and why. Instead, all the information that goes along with that experience – the thoughts, feelings, and body reactions – are stored in an unresolved memory.
The problem with an unresolved memory is that our minds are not able to feel settled. When new things happen to us, that feels similar to the unresolved material, they can trigger all that old confusion. When this happens, old thoughts, feelings, and body reactions rise up again. We feel now and react now like we did back then.
How Does EMDR Therapy Work?
With EMDR, we search out the unresolved memories that are tied to your current symptoms or discomfort. Then one by one, we revisit them and have another chance to understand them and resolve them. This time in a way that we are prepared and it is not overwhelming. After each memory is resolved, any new experiences that happen now will not cause that old stuff to come back up from the past. So, once we are done with EMDR, any uncomfortable feelings, negative thoughts about yourself, and even unwanted responses will probably get much better.
With EMDR, instead of providing tools to deal with your problem (like in regular talk therapy), we will resolve the problem – the unresolved memories. As each memory is resolved, the unwanted emotions, negative beliefs, and symptoms that go along with that memory often fade away.
For more information on EMDR therapy, call me, Kelly O’Donnell, at 314-643-8224 or fill out an online contact form.