Painless
trauma
treatment?
Maybe you’ve heard of EMDR. Or maybe you’ve just been scared of processing all that stuff you’ve been “compartmentalizing".” Piles up, doesn’t it? So what’s Flash EMDR and why does that matter? Glad you asked.
Benefits of the Technique
Accelerated Relief
Active parts of the Flash technique are short, lasting typically 10 to 15 minutes, allowing me to easily fit it into standard “talk therapy sessions.” A best of both.
Avoids Flooding
Traditional EMDR techniques can’t be used with people who are highly dissociative or have intense emotions or fear for a while after lots of stabilization. Flash EMDR allows us to quickly work on the issues by working “around the symptoms,” if you will.
Minimizes Retraumatization
Because I am going to be keeping you distracted with something really funny and positive, you don’t have to go through the distress in reliving the trauma while your unconscious mind processes.
Stop being afraid
of your own story
Locking away the past in boxes makes sense until after a while, the “boxes” start leaking open. Don’t be afraid to heal–it doesn’t have to be worse than what happened.
→ You can feel this way - like you can start trusting your own memory.
→ You can feel this way - courageous enough to face the past so you can be in the present.
→ You can feel this way - solid in knowing who you are and learning to love yourself.
→ You can feel this way - determined to make your own decisions and stop living for others.
Meet your trauma teammate
Hey, I’m Tiffany, and I’m a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor. I’m here to guide you on your healing journey.
I’ve always believed that healing from pain shouldn’t feel worse than the pain itself. I am always on a mission to help people move on from the hard chapters to the sunnier ones.
Have some questions?
Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about Flash EMDR and how it can help with trauma treatment in a relatively painless way:
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The easiest way to think about it is that because traumatic memories are stored in a different part of the brain than something relatively typical, like whatever you ate for dinner last week, they have to be reprocessed and put where memories are supposed to be stored. It’s kind of like a file that got stored in the wrong place on your computer, so you keep having a terrible pop-up that won’t leave the screen. With traditional EMDR, we take the “file,” look at it, and put it where it belongs. This is the desensitization. With Flash EMDR, I keep your conscious mind occupied while I “move the files” in the background.
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Traditional EMDR requires many steps to stabilize people that are highly dissociative or have really intense reactions to memories. Flash EMDR can allow us to desensitize the memories without calling them up directly and making symptoms worse.
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Like any type of healing, there can be some pain with the process. There is always a risk of painful reminders, unexpected sensations, dreams, or reactions but normally on a less intense level than traditional EMDR or talking. I will do my best to keep these to a minimum but there can be a bittersweet aspect to therapy.
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Absolutely! I have found that it’s a lot faster doing virtual work when distractions like a waiting room, driving, parking, and outside noise are limited. I use screen sharing and special tools to facilitate the process.
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When someone has already survived a past trauma and then is exposed to new situations, environments, or interactions that make them re-experience the original event so vividly that their mind and body react as if the past danger is happening right now–like smells, sounds, memories, or images that are too intense without a lot of stabilization work.
At that point then, we are not only working on what you came to therapy for, but then the therapy is also causing trauma. Doesn’t sound great, right?
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You bet! As long as I am an in-network provider with your insurance carrier, there should not be any issue in reimbursement.
