Individual Counseling

EMDR Therapy in Scottsdale, Arizona

January 30, 2022 | Stephanie Levitt, MA, LPC, NCC

Pathways Counseling Services is a premier counseling practice that offers EMDR therapy services to clients who live in the Scottsdale, AZ area. To start EMDR treatment for you or your child, please schedule an appointment with us here or give us a call at (480) 235-1682.

Just the other day, I was sitting down at a cafe and waiting for my order to be called when I noticed a young child in line with his father. The child was talking about the soccer game he had played earlier that morning when suddenly his father snapped and berated his son for making a mistake that had cost the boy’s team the game. Everyone in the cafe was stunned.

As a therapist, I know trauma doesn’t always stem from a horrific accident or years of abuse–it can originate from anywhere and can take on any shape. When I saw this man scream at his son for his game-time performance in the middle of a crowded space, and subsequently saw the child completely withdraw after being humiliated in public by his own father, I couldn’t help but sense the emotional issues and difficulties this child may face years down the road if this is a regular occurrence for him at home.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), especially in children, is commonly misunderstood and can often be manifest into larger problems down the road if unresolved traumas or stresses go untreated.

However, as society learns more and more about PTSD and the things that can contribute to it, hope continues to gain strength.

One such source of hope is a therapy treatment called EMDR, and it is quickly becoming one of the most effective ways to help individuals with PTSD acknowledge, process, and move on from past traumas to live a happier, fuller life. Here’s how.

What is EMDR therapy?

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a psychotherapy technique primarily used to treat individuals with PTSD, but it can also be an effective treatment for anxiety, panic disorders, grief, substance abuse, and a variety of other difficulties or issues an individual is hoping to overcome.

The goal of EMDR is to help clients reprocess and distance themselves from past or current traumas, issues, or adverse events that continue to weigh on their daily lives. By stimulating areas of the brain that process stress and trauma, EMDR clients can confront the negativities and issues they wish to move past and dismantle the mental roadblocks that keep them from emotional healing and betterment.

How does EMDR therapy work?

As the name suggests, EMDR is a highly unique therapy method that uses eye movement to administer treatment. Facilitated in a safe, comfortable office environment, licensed EMDR therapists typically use back-and-forth hand motions, sounds, or other rhythmic stimuli to keep the client’s brain focused while he or she processes traumatic and negative thoughts and feelings internally.

EMDR research suggests that as the client focuses on the therapist’s hands and recalls their target traumas or issues, the client’s brain will actually begin to establish new adaptive connections that will help unblock its ability to process and move past the trauma.

It is important to note that because revisiting trauma can be an intensely emotional and painful experience, EMDR therapists will never push a client too far, and will periodically check in to gauge distress or discomfort with each session. As treatment moves forward, the process is reevaluated and adjusted as needed to provide the best and safest treatment possible for the treated clients.

Expert EMDR Therapy in Scottsdale, Arizona

At Pathways Counseling Services, we provide EMDR treatment for children and adults of all backgrounds and histories. While social and societal pressures teach us–especially at a young age–to suppress our emotions and avoid dwelling on the things that bring us pain, EMDR can help individuals directly acknowledge and overcome that pain so they can finally begin to heal.