What is EMDR Therapy?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is designed to help adults and children process and heal from traumatic experiences, anxiety, and feelings of overwhelm. This form of therapy uses a technique called bilateral stimulation, which stimulates both sides of the brain to alter how traumatic memories are stored.
Instead of allowing painful memories to cause ongoing emotional distress, EMDR therapy helps clients create new, healthier associations with these experiences. By changing the way a traumatic memory is stored, individuals can reduce emotional suffering and begin the journey toward healing and recovery.
Here at San Diego County, California, Estes therapy believes in making the healing process from childhood trauma a positive and encouraging experience. Read below on how childhood trauma impacts the brain and what EMDR can serve you in your healing journey.
What is Childhood Trauma?
Childhood trauma is the experience of significant emotional distress or harm during an individual’s developmental years. No matter how an individual may downplay their childhood experience, it still impacts their development and well-being. Childhood trauma can stem from grief, loss, neglect, abuse, or witnessing traumatic events. These experiences can have lasting emotional and psychological effects if left untreated.
How Childhood Trauma Impacts Your Brain and Emotional Well-Being
Brain plasticity is defined by the brain’s ability to create new connections or pathways. During childhood, the brain is very plastic. As a child experiences and interacts with the world, their brain grows and develops.
Trauma in childhood is classified as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). These experiences include abuse, neglect, violence, or a significant disruption in the first 18 years of life.
When children are exposed to chronic trauma or during a traumatic event, three areas of the brain are affected:
- Amygdala: This part of the brain regulates emotions and produces our reactions to stimuli perceived as dangerous. During a traumatic event, instincts take over. The body releases chemicals for fight, flight, fawn, or freeze response. These chemicals help numb the body from physical pain.
- Hippocampus: This part of the brain stores memory. When the chemicals from the amygdala are high, they can affect the pathways in the brain that create and store memories. Because traumatic memories are disorganized, the brain has difficulty recalling and processing them.
- Prefrontal Cortex: This part of the brain regulates behavior planning, problem-solving, and acting on long-term goals. Trauma damages this part of the brain as new memories are linked to unprocessed traumatic memories.
Due to these effects, trauma becomes part of the brain chemistry and affects children’s lives and experiences in the world.
Understanding the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Trauma on Your Life
The impacts of childhood trauma on adults can come up in different ways.
- Shorter Life Spans and Physical Illnesses: Because of the heightened stress response, childhood trauma negatively affects physical health. It can lead to insomnia, lower immune capabilities, and a higher risk of physical illnesses in adulthood. According to a study, a difficult childhood reduces life expectancy by 20 years.
- Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms: Unresolved childhood trauma causes stress and anxiety. Individuals may try to manage these symptoms with unhealthy coping mechanisms such as smoking, overeating, or abusing substances. These behaviors negatively impact the individuals’ health, resulting in obesity or addiction.
- Difficulty Regulating Emotions: Learning to regulate emotional responses is part of a child’s development. However, childhood trauma can disrupt this learning process and impact the individual’s emotional development.
- Increased Risk of Mental Health Disorders: Childhood trauma, especially from chronic exposure, has been proven to be associated with higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSS), substance use disorders, depression, and anxiety.
- Repeating Negative Patterns: Other people may develop negative self-perceptions, skewing their reactions, feelings, thoughts, and behaviors disproportionate to the situation. For example, an adult may perceive toxic behaviors as normal, causing them to build unhealthy relationships with other people. They may also develop trust issues from getting the help they need.
These long-term effects of childhood disrupt physical health, emotional regulation, and healthy behaviors needed to live as able adults.
How Neuroplasticity Helps You Recover from Traumatic Experiences
Neuroplasticity is a way for individuals to recover from trauma. Neuroplasticity involves rewiring the brain in response to traumatic experiences. While a child’s brain is very plastic, neuroplasticity is a lifelong quality. That means that regardless of age, people can rewire their brains and nervous responses by having healthy associations with traumatic memories.
By repeating behaviors and experiences you want to keep and avoiding the ones you do not, you can form new neural pathways to replace old-trauma-based pathways. EMDR therapy can help individuals channel their neuroplasticity to address childhood trauma.
How EMDR Can Help You Process and Overcome Childhood Trauma through Neuroplasticity
EMDR therapy harnesses the brain’s natural ability to heal by leveraging neuroplasticity. This approach helps us process childhood trauma. By changing the way traumatic memories are stored, EMDR can help you process and overcome trauma.
Activating both the left and right sides of the brain is how EMDR works. Through bilateral stimulation and guided movements, an individual can make sense of what happened in the past without reliving the trauma.
In up to 12 sessions, EMDR allows you to process traumatic memories without the amygdala’s fight-or-flight response and rewire the memory with healthier associations. Your provider, often a licensed therapist, will help you transition to better management of your thoughts and emotions.
Does EMDR Therapy Really Work for Childhood Trauma?
Though EMDR therapy is relatively new, extensive research supports its effectiveness in treating traumatic experiences. Here are some key findings from a systematic review:
- 24 randomized controlled trials confirm that EMDR therapy is highly effective in clinical practice for treating trauma and other adverse life experiences.
- 7 out of 10 studies found that EMDR therapy delivers faster or more effective results than trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).
- 12 randomized studies reveal that bilateral stimulation through eye movement significantly reduces negative emotions and decreases the vividness of disturbing memories.
For individuals struggling with the lingering effects of childhood trauma, EMDR therapy offers a proven path for healing and reducing emotional distress.
Start Your Healing Journey with EMDR: Book a Free Matching Appointment Today in San Diego County, California
Understanding the past takes bravery. We’re here to support the individual’s journey every step of the way. At Estes Therapy in San Diego county, California with offices in North County and Mission Valley, we offer personalized EMDR therapy to help you overcome childhood trauma. It is time to reclaim your emotional health.
Schedule a free 10-minute matching appointment with our Care Coordinator, who will connect you with one of our experienced therapists that best fits your needs. Begin your path to recovery today with Estes Therapy.
