Trauma Recovery
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
With EMDR therapy, people can experience the benefits of psychotherapy that once took years to make a difference. EMDR therapy demonstrates that the brain’s information processing system naturally moves toward mental health. If the system is blocked or imbalanced by the impact of a disturbing event, the emotional wound festers and can cause intense suffering. Once the block is removed, healing resumes. Using the detailed protocols and procedures learned in EMDR and ART therapy training sessions, clinicians help clients activate their natural healing processes.
EMDR Process
Maddison Stahler, EMDR Therapist
EMDR therapy is an eight-phase treatment. Eye movements (or other bilateral stimulation) are used during one part of the session. After the clinician has determined which memory to target first, she asks the client to hold different aspects of that event or thought in mind and to use his eyes to track the therapist’s hand as it moves back and forth across the client’s field of vision. As this happens, for reasons believed by a Harvard researcher to be connected with the biological mechanisms involved in Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, internal associations arise and the clients begin to process the memory and disturbing feelings.
In successful EMDR therapy, the meaning of painful events is transformed on an emotional level. For instance, a rape victim shifts from feeling horror and self-disgust to holding the firm belief that, “I survived it and I am strong.”
EMDR Therapy Research
More than 30 positive controlled outcome studies have been done on EMDR therapy. Some of the studies show that 84%-90% of single-trauma victims no longer have post-traumatic stress disorder after only three 90-minute sessions. Another study, funded by the HMO Kaiser Permanente, found that 100% of the single-trauma victims and 77% of multiple trauma victims no longer were diagnosed with PTSD after only six 50-minute sessions. In another study, 77% of combat veterans were free of PTSD in 12 sessions. There has been so much research on EMDR therapy that it is now recognized as an effective form of treatment for trauma and other disturbing experiences by organizations such as the American Psychiatric Association, the World Health Organization and the Department of Defense.
ART Therapy Research
Across multiple peer-reviewed investigations, ART alleviates co-occurring depression, anxiety, and grief alongside trauma relief: In a 2013 trial participants exhibited significant reductions in both PTSD and depressive symptoms after ART. In a randomized controlled trial of ART in complicated grief participants demonstrated significant improvements in emotional well-being and daily functioning. In an observational study of veterans, subjects demonstrated multi-domain benefits, including reduced anxiety and improved sleep quality.
Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)
Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) is a brief, evidence-based form of psychotherapy designed to help individuals reprocess distressing memories and images. ART utilizes rapid eye movements, guided imagery, and other specialized techniques to address and resolve symptoms associated with trauma, PTSD, anxiety, depression, and phobias in just a few sessions. Developed from established therapeutic approaches such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), ART guides clients in creating new, positive images to replace negative experiences. This process reduces the emotional impact of distressing memories quickly and does not require clients to verbally recount their trauma in detail.
Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)
Jeni Sexton, ART Therapist
Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) is similar to EMDR and the ART Therapist guides the client to replace the negative images in the mind that cause the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress with positive images of the client’s choosing. Once the negative images have been replaced by positive ones, the triggers will be gone, and nightmares and repeated intrusive thoughts will stop.
Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)
Heather Hebert, ART Therapist
ART is also unique in that it combines the enormous power of eye movements to allow voluntary changes in the client’s mind with well-established therapies like Gestalt, Psychodynamic Therapy and Guided Imagery. Within the ART protocol, the eye movements, along with other ART enhancements, make these therapies work much faster and more effectively.
Brainspotting
Robyn Van Roekel, Brainspotting Therapist
Brainspotting (BSP) is a focused, body-based psychotherapy that identifies, processes, and releases trauma, anxiety, and emotional distress stored in the subcortical brain. By fixing the eyes on a specific "brainspot" related to a distressing experience, clients can access deep emotional memories and facilitate healing, often bypassing the need for, or in addition to, traditional talk therapy.