When your brain gets “stuck”

Generally, your brain excels at processing upsetting experiences. You have a bad day, you sleep on it, and you feel a little better by morning. But when something truly terrifying or devastating happens, that processing system can jam and the memory can get “stuck.” Whether the situation occurred a month ago or a decade ago, a specific smell, song, or tone of voice can suddenly make you feel like it was last week. This "stuckness" often manifests as:

• Intrusions: Flashbacks or nightmares that force you to relive the event.

• Hypervigilance: Feeling constantly jumpy, on edge, or easily irritated.

• Cognitive Drain: Persistent brain fog and a frustrating inability to focus on work or daily tasks. 

• Relational Friction: Feeling disconnected from others, struggling to maintain relationships, or isolating yourself because social engagement seems too overwhelming. 

• Numbing: Developing unhealthy coping mechanisms to deal with the pain. 

EMDR: Physiotherapy for your brain

When you sprain your ankle, your body usually heals itself in a few weeks. If it doesn’t, then a physiotherapist can provide specific exercises to initiate your natural healing mechanisms. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is essentially physiotherapy for your brain. This research-backed technique - originally developed to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Vietnam war veterans  - uses bilateral stimulation, typically via eye movements, to stimulate your brain’s innate processing functions. 

Reliving versus remembering

EMDR won't erase your memory, and it won't make you grateful for whatever terrible thing happened. Rather, the goal is to shift your experience from reliving an event to remembering it. EMDR is designed so you can reflect on a situation with the objective, embodied understanding that you survived it and are okay now. EMDR has been demonstrated to be effective for symptoms of trauma and PTSD, anxiety, depression, and somatic illness (psychological stress manifesting as chronic health conditions).

EMDR can help transform your past from a current crisis into a historical fact so that you can stop reacting to what happened then and begin responding to what’s occurring now. Fill out the form below, email me at sue@suebedfordpsychotherapy.com or click here to book a session.