EMDR – healing through your eyes!

EMDR is an effective therapy that can be applied when working with several types of issues, such as anxiety, trauma and particularly PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).  EMDR stands for “Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing”, and that’s what it does.  Through EMDR, I help my clients become less affected (desensitized) by dysfunctional thinking and traumatic memories, and assist them in reprocessing their feelings, beliefs and memories.

What clients imagine regarding clinical hypnosis is often something comical, like what we see depicted in stage hypnosis experiments: the hypnotist plants a subliminal message that makes his subjects believe they are naked when then awake, or makes them crow like a rooster when they hear a certain word or sound.  Don’t worry, none of these things are considered therapeutic, and thus will not be included in a session of clinical hypnosis!

Hypnosis is really just a heightened state of relaxation, achieved through a deliberate and gradual process of induction : helping the client achieve a trance state through use of imagery and systematic relaxation.  The hypnotic state of trance is experienced along a continuum with some clients feeling  fully aware and others feeling like they were asleep throughout the experience.  However a person experiences the trance state, the subconscious mind is accessible within that heightened state of relaxation.  A skilled hypnotherapist then uses that opportunity to access the subconscious mind and makes positive suggestions, or negative associations for change in the client’s life.  For instance, if a client is struggling with addiction, the therapist might suggest that inhaling cigarette smoke burns the clients throat like acid, or that alcohol tastes like vinegar.  Conversely, positive suggestions are made through the use of imagery, such as having the client imagine an airplane trailing through the sky or a boat sailing across the sea,  until is disappears carrying with it the troubling memory or distressing aspect of the client’s current life.  The suggestions are made using a very soothing and calming tone of voice, which perpetuates and often intensifies the client’s state of relaxation.

What the client experiences while under hypnosis is quite pleasant; the therapist uses imagery and metaphors that the client has identified as pleasing, and usually the client comes out of the trance feeling relaxed, refreshed and empowered.  Hypnosis has proven to be effective for many issues that clients struggle with, and it is particularly effective for clients who suffer from anxiety and trauma.

Clients can contact me by phone at (407) 234-4861, or by email at risa@risabos.com.  I have flexible office hours, including evening appointments and weekend appointments.  I am happy to offer a free phone consultation to anyone interested in EMDR, to determine whether it is the right therapy for you. If you are interested in learning more about EMDR or setting up  free phone consult to discuss the topic, you can also call the Life Skills Resource Group Orlando office at 407-355-7378 for information on Risa, EMDR, and all of our other counselors.