Treating Somatic and Medical Trauma with EMDR Therapy
Our bodies and brains are connected. We can not successfully treat one without the other. Whatever illness or medical diagnosis you are currently experiencing EMDR therapy can be an adjunctive to your medical treatment. It is important to address the psychological aspects of illness in order to successfully treat the physical condition. While there is no guarantee that physical symptoms or illness is connected to psychological issues there is an opportunity to use EMDR Therapy to improve your quality of life.
EMDR therapy is a “memory based” treatment. It’s specific method for change involves processing distressing memories and life events. Some of the most distressing life experiences a person can have is related to illness, medical trauma, chronic pain or other somatic experiences being held in the body. EMDR Therapy can assist clients with medical trauma in the following ways:
- Identifying and processing past and current medical issues including (medical procedures, surgeries, distressing diagnosis etc.)
- Working iwth the emotions associated with Medical Trauma including: helplessness, vulnerability, confusion, uncertainty about the future, pain and discomfort
- Processing chronic pain, changes to mobility, impact on quality of life, personal/physical constraints and social issues
- Work through grief and loss regarding medical trauma, receive support with acceptance and “living with” medical conditions
- Releasing the charged somatic experiences held in the body
- Utilizing IFS Informed EMDR to give the body a voice, communicate with the somatically held sensations
- Treating underlying co-occurring diagnosis such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, addiction, sleep issues, dissociation and more
- Using EMDR Therapy to prepare for medical procedures and to assist with imagining life in the future living with the medical issue
Neurofeedback for Medical Trauma
In addition to EMDR Therapy, neurofeedback can also be used to help work with medical trauma. LENS Neurofeedback is designed to regulate the Central Nervous system and can be help to use in addition to processing the trauma. It works directly with the body allowing the brain to lift suppression and work to re-calibrate new neural pathways. This helps to shift trauma, rigid thinking patterns and to release stuck energy in the body.
Whenever we work with clients who have ongoing Medical Trauma we like to coordinate care with the clients medical providers. This coordinated care approach allows the client to receive the best level of treatment.
EMDR for Caregivers
EMDR Therapy can also be helpful to support the caregivers of those struggling with health issues. Providing care giving to those that you love can be a loving, rewarding and a selfless act. It can give the caregiver a sense of control and “something to do to help.” It can also be tiring, lonely, confusing, traumatizing and full of loss and grief. EMDR Therapy can help the caregiver to process the distressing aspects of care giving, the secondary trauma, compassion fatigue and assist with any grief and loss that they may experience.