Trauma & EMDR

Yes, EMDR therapy works. Here is what the research shows, how fast it helps, and who it fits best, from a Henderson EMDR therapist.

Triggers that seem random almost never are. When something overwhelming happens, your brain does not store the memory as a neat story with a beginning, middle, and end. Instead, it breaks the experience into fragments: sounds, smells, body sensations, the quality of…

If something happened to you and it still affects how you feel, think, or relate to other people, it counts as trauma. Most of the trauma that gets addressed in therapy is not what people picture when they hear the word. It…

Unresolved trauma shows up in patterns, not memories. Most people expect it to look like flashbacks or nightmares, but it is more often a set of reactions that do not match the situation you are in. You get disproportionately angry over something…

The most effective therapy for trauma is one specifically designed to treat it. General talk therapy can help with self-awareness and everyday stress, but trauma lives in the nervous system, not just in the thinking brain. Approaches built to address that difference…

Trauma is what happened to you. PTSD is a clinical diagnosis that describes a specific set of symptoms that sometimes develop afterward. Everyone who has PTSD experienced trauma, but not everyone who experienced trauma develops PTSD. Understanding the difference matters because many…

Yes. Modern trauma therapy does not require you to narrate every moment of what happened. That fear, the idea that you will have to sit in a room and relive the worst parts of your life in detail, is one of the…

There is no single timeline for healing from trauma, because it depends on what happened, how long it lasted, and what kind of support you have now. But there is a realistic answer: the most intense work usually happens in weeks to…

Yes. Childhood trauma does not expire when you turn eighteen. The experiences that shaped your nervous system as a kid are still influencing how you think, feel, and relate to other people as an adult. This is not a theory. It is…

Spoiler: It’s not just in your head. If you’ve ever watched Animal Planet , you’ve probably seen this scene: a herd of zebras gathered at a river, peacefully drinking — until one of them hears a twig snap. In an instant, the…