Where Can I Find EMDR Therapy in Las Vegas, Nevada?

Many of us may live through trauma at some point. All too common, it’s estimated that around 70% of people around the world will go through a potentially traumatic event during their lifetimes, according to the World Health Organization.

Traumatic events can take shape in many forms. It could be from surviving a natural disaster, a car accident, an act of violence, sexual assault and abuse, a life-threatening medical emergency, or even terrorism. Far-reaching, the effects of trauma may lend themselves to a host of mental health challenges: anxiety, depression, substance use disorder,s and more.

The Development of PTSD

In extreme trauma, some victims may develop PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, often seen in veterans who have suffered through the rigors of war. Although most severely distressing life experiences won’t turn into PTSD for most people, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs notes that about six out of every 100 people — 6% of the entire population — will develop PTSD.

Traditional talk therapies are highly effective in treating a wide range of disorders, but they can sometimes only go so far in treating PTSD or complex and chronic trauma. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) has emerged as an alternate, transformative therapy to help repair neural connections in your brain that were affected by trauma. EMDR therapy in Las Vegas is part of Vogue Recovery Center’s comprehensive treatment to help repair trauma and restore your sense of well-being.

What Is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)?

EMDR was developed in the late 1980s by American psychologist Francine Shapiro. While walking one day in the park, Shapiro realized that her own back-and-forth eye movements seemed to diminish and desensitize the intensity of negative emotions attached to her traumatic memories. The same effect was apparent when tested on others, but Shapiro realized that eye movements weren’t sufficiently therapeutic enough, so she incorporated other cognitive treatment elements, evolving into what is known as EMDR.

The philosophy of EMDR is that the mind can heal from mental trauma the same way the body can heal from a physical injury.

The EMDR Institute explains that the brain’s information processing system naturally wants to move to mental health, but a distressing or traumatic memory may block that from happening. Emotions you may experience during a traumatic event may be difficult to process, so there’s a tendency for them to get stuck or frozen. When you encounter danger or perceived danger, your body’s automatic survival defenses go into fight, flight, or freeze mode, flooding your central nervous system with hormones like adrenaline and cortisol that put your system on high alert.

Suppose someone could not fully process a traumatic situation when it was happening. In that case, they may experience the same trauma symptoms when future events remind them of that time and trigger negative emotions. 

“Unlike other treatments that focus on directly altering the emotions, thoughts,s, and responses resulting from traumatic experiences, EMDR therapy focuses directly on the memory and is intended to change the way the memory is stored in the brain, thus reducing and eliminating the problematic symptoms,” notes the American Psychological Association.

If you’ve ever been in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), EMDR may seem familiar because talking your emotions through is a big factor. You’ll be asked by your therapist to think deeply, recall, and talk about any memories, emotions, or feelings attached to a traumatic event, plus the triggers that bring them to mind.

But in EMDR, there’s an added component — you’ll focus your gaze on the therapist’s finger as they move it back and forth in a rhythmic manner. This is called bilateral stimulation, a standardized procedure designed to reduce and release the anxiety attached to your traumatic emotions (desensitizing).

Like Shapiro discovered that day in the park, recalling a negative, traumatic experience in tandem with eye movements helps to reduce the vividness and emotion of the memory. As EMDR sessions progress, a patient may experience intense emotions as they recount their traumatic experience in more detail, but these distressing feelings start to lessen as bilateral brain activity is stimulated with eye movement guidance.

From there, you and your therapist can work to reprogram (or, in the EMDR acronym, reprocess) these negative memories at the surface with newer, more positive perspectives and beliefs.

What Mental Health Disorders Does EMDR Therapy Treat?

EMDR is a structured and evidence-based approach, which means it has been proven clinically effective more often than other methods at healing the adverse effects of mental health disorders. EMDR therapy in Nevada at Vogue works to address three distinct trauma disorders:

Trauma

The deep, lasting imprints that trauma can carve in our minds and bodies cannot be overstated. Because of their traumatic nature, our psyches do not properly address them as they remain buried and unresolved, often resurfacing through intrusive thoughts, emotional distress, or even behavioral symptoms, like avoidance of anything related to the experience (such as refusing to drive after being in a car accident). Trauma can also manifest itself through physical symptoms and place strain on our health, well-being, interpersonal relationships, and quality of life.

EMDR therapy in Las Vegas helps you get to the root of your trauma and other problems that may result from it. For instance, those struggling with substance abuse and past trauma may benefit from trauma-informed care, or TIC, a form of therapy that identifies and acknowledges the presence of trauma symptoms and the role they play in substance use and abuse. (Vogue also offers dual-diagnosis treatment for people who may suffer from more than one disorder.)

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Statistics show an excellent success rate for PTSD treatment in Las Vegas through EMDR to treat PTSD. One study indicated that up to 90% of single-trauma victims’ PTSD was alleviated after three 90-minute EMDR sessions.

Many veterans pursuing veteran treatment in Las Vegas have found EMDR therapy to be beneficial. Combat PTSD can result in various symptoms, from flashbacks, nightmares, memory issues, hyperarousal, and mood and sleep disturbances. Another study found that through therapy such as PTSD treatment in Las Vegas, 77% of combat veterans were free of their PTSD in 12 sessions by addressing it in a safe, structured way — acknowledging that the events in their lives were real, embracing their collective impact and reframing the perception of them in a way that only EMDR therapy can.

Complex Trauma

Sometimes called complex post-traumatic stress disorder, or CPTSD, complex trauma manifests itself from prolonged, repeated, chronic exposure to harmful situations and is not the same as the short-term trauma of PTSD. Complex trauma has many potential causes, from long-term child physical or sexual abuse or domestic violence to being a victim of human or sex trafficking, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Over time, this can lead to persistent emotional wounds, such as feelings of shame, guilt, or mistrust, as well as difficulties in relationships and self-esteem.

EMDR therapy in Las Vegas, guided by a skilled and compassionate trauma therapist Las Vegas is particularly effective for complex trauma and CPTSD because it enables individuals to process these layered, interconnected memories in a gradual, manageable way — to replace negative self-beliefs with healthier, more constructive perspectives.

What Is EMDR Therapy in Las Vegas Like?

Trauma’s extended effects can last a lifetime iflefte unaddressed. If you’re considering EMDR therapy in Las Vegas, it’s a brave first step down the path of healing. You might wonder what the process involves or how long it may last.

The full breadth of EMDR therapy is divided into eight distinct phases per session.