Have you lost a parent, sibling, close friend, or important relationship? Grief can take a real toll. EMDR therapy can help you move forward.
Key Points
- Prolonged grief is associated with depression, anxiety, substance use, and other mental health challenges.
- EMDR therapy is often effective in addressing grief, frequently leading to tangible improvement in 3-6 sessions.
- In therapy you can build coping skills for sustained healing.
Sarah is a 20-year-old college student. She is intelligent and a hard worker, but lately, she has been overtaken by a lack of motivation and feelings of numbness. She has also begun having panic attacks and feels overwhelmed by things that used to be easy.
Sarah’s best friend suggests that these symptoms may result from the loss of her mother. Although she passed when Sarah was only ten years old, the painful memories associated with this trauma have left a lasting effect.
You may be just like Sarah—a young woman with the world at your feet but held back by unresolved grief.
Ignoring Grief Can Derail Your Life
Grief is hard. If you are having difficulty after a significant loss, you are at a higher risk of developing emotional challenges, including prolonged grief, depression, anxiety, and panic attacks.
- Prolonged grief can leave you feeling as though life has no meaning, having difficulty accepting your loss, feeling as if a part of yourself has died, and avoiding reminders of the loss or of your loved one.
- A general lack of motivation, numbness, dissociation, and feelings of worthlessness are all common symptoms of depression.
- High levels of fear, chronic overwhelm, overthinking, or even panic attacks can indicate anxiety that needs to be addressed.
Neglecting the grief you are experiencing can put you at greater risk of substance use, suicide, self-harm, social isolation, and other debilitating issues.
Addressing Grief Can Empower You
Therapy can be effective in addressing feelings of loss. In treatment, you can process your grief, gain motivation, feel more focused, get back to a place of satisfaction, and achieve happiness.
While standard therapy approaches do work for many people, they do not work for everyone. EMDR is often effective for people struggling with grief and loss, including for clients who were not helped in the past by typical talk therapy.
EMDR Therapy For Grief and Loss
We specialize in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR). This treatment does not delve into your feelings or rehash your past. Instead, it relies on rapid eye movements and similar methods to reprocess grief and trauma.
We will begin by screening for dissociation and getting a better idea of your early childhood. We will then work with you on mindfulness, self-compassion, and learning to feel more present in your body before eventually moving forward with the EMDR therapy itself.
How EMDR Helps You Move Past Grief
In your EMDR sessions, you will learn how to transform painful memories by using side-to-side eye movements, taps, and other sounds initiated by the therapist. The goal is to associate new feelings with the memory, allowing a sense of emotional healing to wash over you.
Once EMDR is completed, you will learn coping mechanisms to take on the memories as they resurface.
EMDR therapy has been shown to aid in the processing of a single traumatic event within 3-6 sessions and can be less stressful than other forms of treatment.
Get Started Now
You deserve the best chance at processing your grief and transforming the pain it can cause. Our job is to support your journey with effective tools for sustained healing. We look forward to supporting you on your journey to a happier, more fulfilling life.
At The Trauma Therapy Group, we are committed to providing comprehensive trauma therapy, EMDR therapy, and grief services tailored to the unique needs of women in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, New Westminster, Port Moody, Maple Ridge, Surrey, and throughout Vancouver. Our experienced therapists are dedicated to helping women navigate the challenges of trauma and loss, offering a safe and supportive environment for healing. Whether you’re dealing with the aftermath of a traumatic event, struggling with grief, or seeking to overcome past emotional wounds, our team is here to support you on your journey to recovery. We are committed to providing accessible and effective mental health care to the women in our community. Reach out to The Trauma Therapy Group today to learn more about how our compassionate services can help you regain control and find peace.
References and Further Reading
- EMDR International Association. (2024, February 1). About EMDR therapy. Retrieved from https://www.emdria.org/about-emdr-therapy/
- Psychiatry.org – DSM. (n.d.). Prolonged Grief Disorder. Retrieved from https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/dsm
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2022, July 26). Coping with grief. National Institutes of Health. Retrieved from https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2017/10/coping-grief