EMDR THERAPY & COUNSELING
in Plantation, Florida
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WHAT IS EMDR THERAPY?
​Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a revolutionary approach to psychotherapy that allows you to resolve stored trauma and rewire your brain. Though it was initially developed as a treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other trauma-related issues, EMDR has since become a widely used therapy for a range of mental health challenges and emotional issues.
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HISTORY AND EFFICACY OF EMDR
EMDR was discovered by Dr. Francine Shapiro, a psychologist specializing in stress reduction and self-care. One day in 1987, Dr. Shapiro was walking in the park when she noticed her thoughts and feelings fluctuate according to where she moved her eyes. As she moved her eyes from side to side—known in EMDR as “bilateral stimulation”—she experienced calming effects and a reduction in symptoms. Eventually, she began developing EMDR with dozens of volunteers, creating a highly structured treatment process that led to significant outcomes among her patients.
Since being introduced to the field of psychotherapy in the late 1980s, EMDR has become one of the most sought-after and scientifically verified treatment modalities. Trauma experts and mental health organizations across the globe—including the US Department of Veterans Affairs, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the American Psychiatric Association (APA)—recognize EMDR as a leading therapy for PTSD and other common mental health issues.
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HOW DOES EMDR THERAPY WORK?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing treatment involves a multi-step process that seeks to identify past traumas, current symptoms, and future goals. Symptoms are traced back to core traumas as you identify disturbing memories or images, negative self-beliefs, and somatic (body-based) discomfort that stem from trauma being improperly stored in the body.
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SYMPTOMS THAT EMDR THEAPY CAN HELP WITH:
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Trauma
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PTSD
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Anxiety
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Depression
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Phobias
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Attachment injuries and relational issues
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Addiction
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Chronic pain
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Panic attacks
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Eating disorders
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Psychosis
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Self-esteem issues
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Stress-induced flareups of skin problems
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Symptoms related to Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
THE EIGHT PHASES OF
EMDR TREATMENT
Phase 1 - History taking: Once you have completed an intake with your EMDR therapist, they will work to understand your presenting concerns and identify potential targets for treatment.
Phase 2 – Preparation: Before beginning the desensitization process, your therapist will assess your coping strategies and offer tools for handling emotional distress. While it’s important to identify core traumas throughout treatment, it’s equally essential that you are able to maintain equilibrium between sessions so as not to re-traumatize or overstimulate the nervous system.
Phases 3 – 6 - Identifying target and beginning rapid eye movement therapy: The actual practice of EMDR begins as you (1) assign a visual image to the memory you want to neutralize; (2) identify the negative self-belief or self-perception related to the memory; and (3) observe physical sensations that occur when recalling the image.
Once you’ve established a target image, your therapist will begin bilateral stimulation using side-to-side taps, lights, or sounds that essentially engages both parts of the brain to clear traumatic associations. This will assess your emotional and physical response after each round of bilateral stimulation with the ultimate goal of neutralizing the memory by the session’s end.
Phase 7 – Closure: As you replace negative thoughts and self-beliefs with more positive associations, your therapist will work with you to integrate this new information into your daily life. In some cases, this process involves logging daily symptoms between sessions and practicing coping techniques in real-time.
Phase 8 – Continued sessions: Your EMDR therapist will work with you to track progress and identify any potential triggers that might induce distress in the future. Though EMDR tends to be faster and gentler than many other psychotherapy techniques, ongoing support is likely necessary, especially if you have sustained multiple traumas or complex trauma (C-PTSD).
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FIND FREEDOM WITH EMDR THERAPY
HOW EMDR THERAPY
DIFFERS FROM OTHER APPROACHES
Counselors trained in EMDR tend to have a background in a wide range of therapeutic approaches, including behavioral methods and other forms of talk therapy. Such approaches can be especially useful when used to support coping strategies and enhanced emotional awareness.
That said, EMDR is completely different from most conventional treatments. Unlike behavioral approaches—like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)—EMDR rewires the brain at the neurobiological level rather than addressing surface-level cognitive symptoms. This allows for deeper healing to take place and because it gets to the root of the issue, EMDR tends to yield more lasting, sustainable results.
Additionally, EMDR is far gentler than many therapies. You are not expected to discuss your trauma at length in EMDR therapy; rather, your therapist will guide you in nonverbally identifying target images and neutralizing painful memories. For this reason, EMDR is much less likely to re-traumatize you than a therapeutic modality that requires intensive verbal processing.
LEAVE THE PAST IN THE PAST WITH THE HELP OF A TRAUMA COUNSELOR
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Trauma can be worked individually, as a family, or as a couple. Couples counseling can be the right fit for a couple that experienced a traumatic event together and need help finding solutions against anger, arguments, and feelings of disconnect. Family Counseling is a great fit for families that have experienced a traumatic event together, such as the loss of family member, an accident, or any form of abuse or neglect. This is assessed at the initial session, where details are gathered to determine personalized treatment needs.
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GIFT YOURSELF WITH THE POSSIBILITY OF TRANSFORMING YOUR LIFE AND YOUR RELATIONSHIPS BY WORKING THROUGH ISSUES AROUND TRAUMA. YOU DESERVE IT.
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WHY COME TO US FOR EMDR THERAPY &
COUNSELING?
Our practice is collaborative and client-centered, which means we work with you to understand your unique symptoms and goals for treatment. Our therapists are here to assist you in developing tools and strategies that can meaningfully support your mental health, wellbeing, and relationships.
We believe in the power of EMDR to address core traumas and the mental health issues that develop from those traumas because we have seen for ourselves the powerful healing effects that this modality has had on our clients. We’ve used EMDR to treat everything from PTSD and anxiety to physical symptoms and low self-esteem. However, we tailor the treatment process to your specific experience. If EMDR is not the right therapy or if other modalities would benefit you in conjunction with EMDR, our therapists are prepared to incorporate elements of CBT, solution-focused counseling, mindfulness therapy, narrative approaches, and mindfulness, among others, into your treatment plan.
Whatever combination of methods we use to address your distress and discomfort, we are confident that you will be proud of the work we’ll do together and all that you will achieve along the way.
OVERCOME THE EFFECTS
OF TRAUMA ONCE AND FOR ALL
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a gentle, effective, and lasting treatment for a wide range of mental health issues, including anxiety, depression, attachment injuries, and trauma-related issues. To find out more about how EMDR therapy can help you, call us at (954) 903 – 1676 or visit our Homepage.
HOW TO GET STARTED
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Call us at 954-903-1676 and one of our assistants will match you with an EMDR therapist, or schedule your initial appointment here.You can request a free 15-minute call with the therapist to get to know them a little better..
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You will receive and email with a link to a portal to complete the intake paperwork. Once we receive them, 24-48 hours before your scheduled appointment, it will confirm your attendance.
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Meet your therapist and get started collaborating together to take charge of your life and begin working on your specific goals.
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