You’re tired of feeling stuck. Tired of noticing the same thoughts, patterns & situations coming up over and over again. You want to move forward with your life, but it feels like something is stuck in the way. No matter how hard you try, it feels like you aren’t making much progress toward better mental health.
EMDR Therapy in Florida Can Help
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a specific approach to psychotherapy that helps people heal from the past or move forward when they are emotionally stuck. It’s different from traditional talk therapy. EMDR therapy can often work faster, or work for people who have other forms of therapy for years. EMDR is a powerful intervention that can help you unravel negative thinking patterns that have held you back for years. Our EMDR therapists are dedicated to helping you get “unstuck” regardless of where you live in Florida. We have helped clients across the state. From Tallahassee to Tampa, we will help you find healing and move forward to fulfill your potential.
What is EMDR Therapy?
EMDR is a structured form of therapy that uses an eight-phase approach to treat psychological disorders, relieve suffering and help people move forward toward their full potential. Throughout EMDR therapy, past experiences, current triggers, and potentially stressful situations you may face in the future are all addressed.
Essentially, EMDR therapy assumes that many of your symptoms come from not fully processing the most stressful experiences you’ve been through. This makes it difficult for you to integrate what you learned from those stressful experiences into your daily life in a healthy way. EMDR walks you through structured phases to help you process your experiences and install new, healthier beliefs that will help you move forward.
What is Bilateral Stimulation?
A core component of EMDR therapy is bilateral stimulation. Bilateral stimulation can happen in a variety of different ways. But the idea is to shift your focus between the two different sides of your body and therefore two different sides of your brain to help you reprocess past feelings and thoughts so you can get “unstuck.” The most common method of bilateral stimulation is for the therapist to move their hand back and forth in front of you while your eyes follow their hand and think of past trauma or stressful situation.
However, EMDR therapists have found a variety of ways to use bilateral stimulation and your therapist can work with you to figure out what works the best for you. With a virtual EMDR therapist, you may be asked to follow something on the screen. Such as, use a “bear hug” to tap your upper arms, alternate tapping on each knee, and listen to alternating sounds. Or, any number of other techniques that work for both you and your therapists.
During Bilateral Stimulation
You first focus on a negative belief you have related to a troubling memory. Then, you form a positive belief you’d rather have. You identify various physical sensations and emotions associated with that memory and the current negative belief. Then, you focus on the memory during the bilateral stimulation. After, you discuss what came up for you when you speak to your therapist while you take brief breaks from the bilateral stimulation.
Through this process, you’ll begin to process the pain or stressor with both hemispheres of the brain stimulated which helps the brain begin the process of healing itself.
Who Benefits From EMDR therapy?
EMDR was initially developed to help people heal from PTSD symptoms and past traumas and has been shown in research studies after the research study to be an effective form of therapy for healing past trauma. However, research is also confirming what clinicians have been saying for years which is that EMDR can help people with a wide range of mental health concerns. Furthermore, EMDR can often help people make progress in therapy much more quickly when EMDR is used. Some specific things EMDR can help with include:
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- Recent episodes of stress or trauma: EMDR therapists have specific protocols we can follow to help you process recent traumatic or very stressful experiences
- Post-traumatic stress disorder: EMDR can help you heal from PTSD, whether or not you’ve been formally diagnosed in the past.
- Phobias or extreme avoidance of a specific(s) stimuli: Avoidance of something specific like an object, activity, or internal feeling.
- Generalized Anxiety Disorders: Frequent repetitive thoughts, fixations, or having strong reactions to something even when you tell yourself, “I shouldn’t feel anxious about this.”
- Obsessive-Compulsive personality traits, or OCD
- Unhealthy habits or addictive behaviors: Including but not limited to procrastination habit, using work, exercising, or deprivation patterns to self soothe, and other addictive patterns (e.g. gambling, sex, shopping, alcohol, and other substances)
Why EMDR Therapy?
Through EMDR therapy, clients can resolve the most traumatic or disturbing parts of their past, address current triggers, and incorporate more adaptive, healthy ways of looking toward the future.
EMDR may sometimes feel more “gentle” than other psychotherapy interventions. In EMDR there’s a strong focus on helping you stay within your window of tolerance. This gives your brain the safety it needs to explore difficult things and begin to heal.
Many clients like that you don’t have to describe your past traumas in detail to your therapist. Often, EMDR can work more quickly than traditional talk therapy as the bilateral approach can allow the brain to heal more readily on its own. Additionally, EMDR can help with a wide range of symptoms or concerns.
The Wellness Psychological Services Approach to EMDR Therapy in Florida
At Wellness Psychological Services, we offer EMDR therapy as a standalone treatment or to supplement other work you may already be doing with a therapist. What this means is that you can choose to just do EMDR as your primary treatment. But if you already have a therapist you are doing excellent work with, it’s possible to add EMDR to compliment the work you’re already doing.
Highly Skilled EMDR Therapist
You need and deserve the absolute highest quality psychotherapy services. We know you want a treatment that will be effective and supportive, having a long-lasting, positive impact on your life. Thus, we partner with only the most skilled therapists. In fact, our team includes only doctoral-level psychologists. This means you are working with an EMDR therapist who has the highest level of training in providing psychotherapy.
Meet Dr. Oropeza-Diaz
Dr. Oropeza-Diaz is a clinical psychologist and the primary EMDR therapist at Wellness Psychological Services. She is highly trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing and has experience offering this type of treatment. She’s passionate about helping people get unstuck and would be happy to help you reach your therapy goals.
Virtual EMDR Therapy in Florida
EMDR therapy at Wellness Psychological services is typically delivered via telehealth. This means that our EMDR therapists can work with you whether are down in Miami or the Keys, up in Destin, or closer to our offices in Tampa or St. Pete, we’re able to work with you.
Virtual EMDR therapy is similar to in-person EMDR, but you use technology to connect with your therapist. Our psychologists offer virtual EMDR therapy in Florida. Why? Because it’s convenient for you as the client. Yet, Telehealth is also very effective as a delivery method for EMDR. Here are some of the benefits of online EMDR sessions:
- You can meet with your therapist from anywhere you feel safe and comfortable. With EMDR, it’s important to feel safe during sessions so virtual sessions can happen in a space you are already comfortable.
- Attending telehealth sessions cuts down drive time to and from a therapy session.
- Some people enjoy meeting a therapist who lives in another part of the state and they’re unlikely to otherwise cross paths with. Telehealth makes this possible.
- There are creative ways of using EMDR via telehealth and your therapist has several options for providing bilateral stimulation.
What is Holding You Back From Beginning EMDR Therapy?
If you’ve made it this far on the page, you’re probably very curious about EMDR. So, what’s holding you back from giving it a try? Maybe, it’s intimidating to try something new. And we know, this whole idea of “bilateral stimulation” may feel a little different. But the truth is, it works. And you’ve tried to do this on your own. Maybe you’ve even tried traditional talk therapy. Now it’s time to try something different. It’s time to get unstuck and EMDR can help
Begin Virtual EMDR Therapy in Florida
You don’t have to live with the same unhealthy, self-defeating patterns. EMDR therapy can help you find clarity, free yourself from negative old thinking patterns and begin moving forward. Wellness Psychological Services has expert, doctoral-level psychologists who specialize in EMDR therapy. Our Tampa, FL-based therapy practice can help you with a wide range of mental health concerns. Contact Wellness Psychological Services to get connected with a skilled EMDR clinician. To start your therapy journey, follow these simple steps:
- Contact Wellness Psychological Services
- Meet with an expert clinical psychologist such as EMDR therapist Dr. Oropeza-Diaz
- Begin virtual EMDR therapy in Florida to get unstuck and live life to the fullest
Psychotherapy at Wellness Psychological Services
EMDR therapy is a great stand-alone treatment. However, we offer a variety of other psychotherapy services in case you or someone else you care about needs more support. We offer both individual therapy and couples counseling. For couples, we can offer marriage counseling, divorce discernment counseling, support through a divorce, and mediation. On the other hand, we can help individuals with anxiety treatment, trauma therapy, depression counseling, OCD treatment, eating disorder treatment, stress management, and most other common mental health concerns. Additionally, we have testing and evaluation services available. Our clinicians can see you virtually from anywhere in Florida or in person at our therapy offices in St. Petersburg & Tampa, FL. You deserve to figure out what’s been holding you back, find healing, and move forward. We’re here to support you when you’re ready.