EMDR

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is an evidence-based practice used to treat trauma and help facilitate the brain's natural healing processes. 

During a traumatic or stressful event that leaves us feeling overwhelmed and alone in our experience, the brain does not process information as it normally would. Instead, information can get stuck or stored in the brain in unhelpful ways and continue to negatively affect you in your present day life. The old stored information can be triggered in the present and can cause you to have thoughts, feelings, or body sensations that transport you back to the time the trauma occurred. This affects the way a person sees the world and how they relate with others. 

EMDR uses eye movements (similar to what occurs during REM sleep) or other forms of bilateral stimulation (tactile or auditory) to help facilitate information processing and relieve the effects of trauma on the body and mind, including any negative self-beliefs that may be present. Following a successful EMDR session, your memory of the event will still be present, but you will not be overwhelmed when recalling the painful details of the incident. This allows you to access positive ways of viewing the original trauma (reprocessing) and to release the stored negative emotional reactions around it (desensitization).