EMDR Online Therapy

EMDR therapy is now also available online! A session in your own living room or where you feel safe. There is no additional stress of traveling to and from the clinic. EMDR online is a relatively short-term therapy . Especially when there is a single traumatic event, after a few EMDR sessions you can already experience improvements and you are able to continue with your daily activities such as work and study. As online psychologist, psychotherapist and EMDR practitioner I have a lot of experience in treating all kinds of trauma through online EMDR. Just like in the treatment room, it works via eye movements and, if necessary, in combination with taps. The therapist is present during the online EMDR session and ensures that everything runs smoothly. EMDR online is a very powerful treatment method for all kinds of trauma.

 

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing and is an effective treatment method for processing traumatic experiences and reducing post-traumatic stress (PTSD) symptoms . PTSD symptoms are complaints that arise as a direct result of a concrete, unpleasant event, where thinking about it still elicits an emotional response.

 

 

The therapist will ask you to recall the traumatic event, in particular the associated images, thoughts, feelings. At first this is required to gain more information about the traumatic event. Subsequently the processing will get started as your therapist will ask you again to recall the traumatic event but now in combination with a distracting stimulus by following a dot on a screen and/or or by listening to alternating left and right sounds via the headphones. These distracting movements or sounds are called a ‘set’. After each set there is a little break during which the therapist will ask the client what comes up. The EMDR procedure usually brings about a stream of thoughts and images but also feelings and bodily sensations. Often something changes. After each set the client is asked to concentrate on the most obvious change and once again another set is applied.

 

 

The sets will eventually lead to a decrease in emotion and power of the memory thereby making it easier to think about the event.

In many cases the memories itself become more faded or diminished.  But it is also possible for less unpleasant aspects of the memory to come forward. Another possibility is that new insights or thoughts arise which give a less threatening implication or meaning of the actual event. These effects contribute to the traumatic event being more integrated into one’s life.

 

One explanation for the effectiveness of EMDR is that remembering a bad memory in combination with making eye movements or another distracting stimulus ensures that the natural processing system is stimulated.

 

Because a traumatic memory when brought to mind is both vivid and intense, it consumes a relatively large amount of memory capacity. Following the distracting stimulus as quickly as possible, as happens with EMDR therapy, also costs memory capacity. Due to this competition of working memory tasks, there is little room for the vividness and purity of the memory. This gives you the opportunity to give a different meaning to the event. People who have endured longer lasting traumatic events or when the problems are more complex the treatment obviously requires more time than a few sessions. 

 

 

There is increasing evidence that emotionally charged memories and images also play an important role in other complaints such as chronic pain, anxiety disorders, depression, eating disorders and a negative self-image. For this reason, EMDR is increasingly used for these problems and disorders, usually as part of a broader treatment plan.

An online EMDR treatment is suitable for everyone . Both children and adults benefit greatly from this form of treatment. Even within partner relationship therapy, EMDR is very effective. In addition, the intensive therapy works quickly and has a lasting result.

 

 

Nostra Forza offers EMDR therapy for PTSD symptoms and as part of a broader treatment plan for other complaints. Through a specially developed program, EMDR therapy can now be offered online just as effectively as "in-person" therapy . Online EMDR therapy is also recognized by the Dutch EMDR Association.

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Experience with online EMDR: 

My experience with online EMDR therapy couldn't have been better. I had had panic attacks and insomnia for an entire year before I started therapy. Anyone undergoing panic attacks or insomnia would know how debilitating these symptoms are. For me the fear around having more panic attacks would most likely give me one. I decided to start online EMDR as a last resource, I was not the most confident person, I had my doubts about it being online. But a few weeks into the treatment my sleep became better and more consistent and by the time I was half-way through the treatment I realised my panic attacks were gone. It was amazing, I still can't believe it worked so well. Thank you Nostra Forza!

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