In the aftermath of trauma, people can experience a range of emotions. One emotion which often emerges following a traumatic event or loss, is grief. Many people associate grief with the loss of a loved one, and while this is an accurate assimilation, grief can be associated with any physical or emotional loss. If you have experienced trauma, it is normal to mourn what might have been, what could have been, or the loss of what was taken or missed out on. Even after events and situations that accompanied the trauma have passed, grief tends to linger and can transform into PTSD if it is not released and supported in a healthy and healing way.
If you feel like you have tried everything to heal from your loss and are still struggling to resolve your grief, Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is a proven form of psychotherapy that has been especially healing for people who have experience deep grief. What is EMDR therapy?
Here are four ways that EMDR can provide healing as you cope with grief.
1. EMDR Therapy reconciles your mind and body.
Trauma can sever the connection between your brain’s ability to process information and your body’s ability to successfully act on that information for the purpose of self-preservation and the facilitation of joy. When there is a disconnect between your ability to reason and your ability to act emotions, intrusive thoughts, and difficult memories can seem uncontrollable and overwhelming. EMDR reforges the severed connection between the mind and the body by stimulating different sides of the brain while actively engaging movements of the body through eye tracking, hand-tapping, or audio/visuals. In this way, EMDR therapy can sooth traumatized individuals by allowing them to process grief in a way that alleviates the internal disconnect. As a result, grief is comforted and distress fades.
2. EMDR Therapy provides clarity.
EMDR Therapy’s gentle approach allows grief-stricken patients the support needed to address any guilt, shame, or debilitating sorrow that surrounds their grief. By freeing themselves of the judgements and unhelpful feelings that often associate grief patients are free to explore other more helpful feelings about their grief. As a result, participants of EMDR therapy often experience a sense of empowering clarity as they navigate through the grieving process towards healing and recovery.
3. EMDR Therapy releases suppressed grief
When grief is especially consuming, the mind can sometimes attempt to protect itself by “locking-in” the grief. This suppression can look like denial, avoidance, or even anger, but grief is natural and essential for healing. If grief is kept “locked-in”, it can have a severely negative impact on mental health and overall wellbeing. Regardless of if the trauma behind the grief occurred last week, last year, or twenty years ago, there is a natural process of grief, and EMDR Therapy allows that natural process to continue. EMDR Therapy focuses on the exact mental and emotional needs of the individual patient so that when the grief is released it is supported and processed in a healthy and healing way.
4. EMDR Therapy fosters inner peace.
Time can heal many wounds, but some losses need some extra compassion, care, and support. EMDR Therapy does not turn back the clock, and it does not make you forget what happened. No therapy can do that. Rather, EMDR Therapy allows patients to grieve in such a way that they can safely complete the cycle of grief and experience a sense of closure, purpose, and inner peace.
Explore other benefits of EMDR Therapy.
EMDR therapy in Cincinnati
Working with a compassionate, trauma-informed, and certified EMDR Therapist such as our certified EMDR Therapists at Therapy Cincinnati, you can take a healing step towards resolving your grief and many of the other symptoms and emotions associated with trauma and loss. If you would like to learn more about how EMDR Therapy can help you find comfort and healing, please contact us today for a free, 15-minute phone consultation.
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