Recovering from Sexual Trauma: EMDR and Healing
You are not alone!
The most important thing for you to understand is that you are not alone.
“Approximately 1 in 5 (21.3% or an estimated 25.5 million) women in the U.S. reported completed or attempted rape at some point in their lifetime, including completed forced penetration, attempted forced penetration, or alcohol/drug facilitated completed penetration. About 2.6% of U.S. men (an estimated 2.8 million) experienced completed or attempted rape victimization in their lifetime.” - NISVS 2105 Brief
Knowing that you’re not alone doesn’t solve your problem. We know that, but it might make it easier to understand that there is help. Sadly, we see sexual trauma survivors every day. We know what they’re going through, and we can help with the tools we offer.
A Safe Space
The key to any therapy is to take away the power of memory in a safe space.
That safe space, at Sun Point Wellness Center in Lancaster, PA, and any other reputable therapists’ office, is the room you’re in. In that space, the therapist can create an area where you can see and deal with your trauma without fearing it.
Your therapist will talk to you about where you are, how they’re there to protect you and watch over you, and how you’re in control at all times. You won’t be pushed harder than you can handle, nor will you be allowed to stagnate to the point where you don’t make progress.
It’s a relationship with someone who is going to make sure that you’re on the path to healing in a place where you can open up safely.
What is EMDR?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a therapy that’s more than a single therapy. An EMDR therapist will use many therapies in conjunction with EMDR to help you change how you respond to the memories of what happened.
How does EMDR work?
EMDR uses sights, sounds, or physical stimulation to engage both sides of the brain, left and right, while you work on a traumatic memory. By bringing both sides of the brain into effect, you're able to engage both the emotional and the logical side of your brain.
This can keep the memory from being unresolved in one context while you’re working on the other.
Your eyes will follow a light back and forth while you’re working on the memory that’s causing your trauma.
The next step is desensitizing. All therapies work to do this. What happened to you was terrifying, painful, and horrible. But it’s over. The problem is that our minds will remember those events more vividly than even some of our most positive events.
Try this: Think about a time you were really happy. Does it feel as real as the memory you’re trying to get rid of? Probably not.
Once we get your entire brain engaged in working on this terrible memory, we work to make it less terrible, less painful, less hurtful. That’s what desensitization means.
The last step is reprocessing. Together with your therapist, you’ll reprocess the memory to put it in a box. To keep it from reinjuring you repeatedly. We’ll replace it with memories that are more pleasant or give you strength.
Here’s a way to look at it: The memory you have keeps digging a deeper and deeper rut in your mind. By taking away its power and then reprocessing, we can change how the memory is remembered in your mind. It’s still there, but all of its power has been taken away.
Rapid Results
EMDR typically requires many fewer sessions than talk therapy, like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and other techniques. This is because of the use of the body to activate the brain.
In fact, CBT is often part of EMDR therapy, but only part. The eye movement/brain engagement helps to move the healing portion of the therapy along more quickly.
Of course, there are no guarantees and everyone is different, but most EMDR therapists find that this technique is extremely effective.
It’s Personal
One of the most important parts of your therapy is that you have a personal, trusting relationship with your therapist.
At Sun Point Wellness Center in Lancaster, PA, we take the time to get to know each other and make sure that you’re feeling safe and secure.
Your therapist is the person you’re going to share some of your most intimate and painful memories with. It’s vital that you feel trust and safety.
It’s important to understand that you can always simply ask for a different therapist.
Other Powerful Therapies
In the interest of full disclosure, there are other therapies that can also be used to help sexual trauma survivors.
CPT (Cognitive Processing Therapy)
Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE)
Somatic Experiencing (SE)
Each of these therapies has been shown to be very effective against PTSD caused by trauma. Sometimes, these therapies are used in conjunction with EMDR to help to heal faster.
Finding Help in Lancaster, PA
Sun Point Wellness Center in Lancaster, PA, provides the EMDR therapy along with other therapies to help with all kinds of traumas and issues.
Our team is certified and caring, here to help you recover events in the past that are affecting your every day.
Contact us. We’re here to help you when you need us.
You Deserve To Heal
We want to make sure you understand that sexual assault is never your fault. There is nothing you did that makes you responsible.
You deserve to not feel this pain every day. You are an amazing and wonderful person who deserves happiness and healing.
The team at Sun Point Wellness Center is fully trained in EMDR and wants to hear your story to help you begin healing. We want you to feel better and stronger.
Call us. We’re here to help you, reach out: info@sunpointwellness.com.