EMDR Therapy

ABOUT EMDR

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Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an extensively researched, effective psychotherapy method proven to help people recover from trauma and other distressing life experiences, including PTSD, Anxiety, Depression, Grief and Addiction. EMDR treats single event trauma and the "everyday" memories which lead to people's struggle with low self-esteem, feelings of powerlessness, and myriads of other emotional issues.

 

The American Psychiatric Association, the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the World Health Organization recognised EMDR as an effective psychotherapy treatment for trauma and other disturbing experiences.

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EMDR Tenet

The brains have a natural way to recover from traumatic memories and events. This process involves communication between the amygdala (the alarm signal for stressful events), the hippocampus (which assists with learning, including memories about safety and danger), and the prefrontal cortex (which analyses and controls behaviour and emotion). 

 

For example, when you cut your hand, your body works to close the wound. But the fragment or foreign object continues to irritate the wound and causes pain until you remove it. EMDR therapy demonstrates that a similar sequence of events occurs with mental processes. The brain's information processing system naturally moves toward mental health. When distress from a disturbing event remains, the disturbing images, thoughts, and emotions may create feelings of being overwhelmed or "frozen in time." EMDR therapy helps the brain process these memories and allows healing to resumes, leading to the resolution of the traumatic memories. 

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How EMDR Works?

EMDR therapy involves attention to three time periods: the past, present, and future. Treatment will focus on healing the past disturbing memories and their related events. The therapist will also attend to current situations that cause distress and to developing the skills and attitudes needed for positive future actions. 

 

EMDR therapy is an eight-phase treatment, which includes history taking, resource and processing. The therapist uses eye movements or other bilateral stimulation during or part of the sessions. During the processing, the therapist asks the client to hold different aspects of that event or thought in mind and to use his eyes to track the therapist’s hand as it moves back and forth across the client’s field of vision. As this happens, internal associations arise to process the memory and disturbing feelings, thus allowing for natural healing. The tenet behind this processing is similar to the biological mechanisms involved in Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep.

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More details about the eight phases of EMDR treatment can be found here.

 

The resolution of the traumatic memories may be achieved in one single session or several sessions, depending on the severity of the trauma.

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Who may benefit from EMDR?

EMDR therapy is suitable for children, youth and adults of all ages.

 

EMDR is an effective treatment for Anxiety, Depression, Bipolar Disorders, Dissociative Identity Disorders, Eating Disorders, Grief and Loss, and addictions. It is extensively for the treatment of Sexual Abuse, PTSD and other forms of Trauma.

 

EMDR is also used for the treatment of unexplained Chronic Pain and for enhancing sports and creative performance.

 

At Restoring Peace, we customised our EMDR Therapy according to our clients unique needs. Where necessary, we may integrate EMDR with Somatic Experiencing, or Expressive therapy. We may also use Flash Techniques to help clients to reduce distress. 

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Flash technique

Flash Technique has been demonstrated to reduce the disturbance level associated with severely painful memories effectively. Like EMDR, Flash utilizes eye movements or alternating tapping and is designed to resolve unprocessed traumatic memories in the brain. While research is still ongoing, clients who experience the Flash technique reported a rapid reduction of their distress level. The Flash technique is beneficial for clients who have experienced severe trauma and is fearful of connecting to that traumatic event for processing the trauma. An EMDR-trained Trauma Therapist administered Flash Technique to help their client access the memory in less disturbing ways. The aim is to reduce the intensity of those traumatic memories, thus increase the clients capacity to process other traumatic memories that may surface during EMDR treatment.

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Our EMDR Therapist

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ROSE FAQUIR

Rose's strength lies in her more than 13 years of experience, her aptitude for continuous learning and her genuine concern for her clients. She provides psychotherapy for childhood trauma, sexual trauma, medical trauma, violence, acute trauma and C-PTSD. A survivor of complex trauma, Rose's area of interest is attachment-based anxiety, sexual trauma, borderline personality disorder and addictions. Rose is a Certified EMDR Therapist with EMDRIA and with EMDRS. Read more about Rose here​.

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Tsui Ling

​As an experienced play therapist, Tsui Ling remains committed to be compassionate, warm, and affirming with clients who are troubled in their relationships, experience trauma, feel vulnerable or not coping well with life/work/school stresses. Working in a nonjudgmental way,  Read more about Tsui Ling here​.

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Nancy Gay

Nancy has over ten years of experience working with individuals and families using the person-centred and non-directive approach. She is passionate about supporting and empowering clients to achieve their goals and outcomes. Read more about Nancy here​.

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Nigel Tan

Nigel's counselling experience included local and international schools supporting students from challenging family backgrounds and persons struggling with their sense of self. As a musician and music educator, Nigel integrates music is his therapy for his clients. Read more about Nigel here​.

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Shi Lim

Shi has worked with youth and young adults with anxiety, low self-esteem, and relational trauma. As a developing practitioner, Shi firmly believes in the value of continuing education and is currently attending training in EMDR (Pannell Institute). Read more about Shi here​.

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