EMDR Therapy for Perinatal Trauma: Untangling Memory Knots

Have you ever been calmly going about your day when suddenly you're emotionally, physically, or cognitively brought back to a distressing event in your life? It's like reliving that moment, even though you know you're just making dinner or responding to emails.

Or maybe you've planned how to handle a distressing situation, but in the moment, all that planning vanishes, and you react in a way you promised yourself you wouldn't, like yelling. This happens because our limbic brain stores information that overrides our conscious plans.

Despite attending many counseling sessions and focusing on your well-being, you might find yourself reverting to old behaviors. This is because to change our instinctive responses, we first need to rewire our nervous system before we can rewire our conscious brain.

Our bodies naturally heal themselves, but like a physical wound that needs proper care, our mental healing can be disrupted by trauma and stress. When our nervous system is activated, it disrupts the processing of experiences, beliefs, and emotions, storing them in a dysfunctional way.

Think of a memory network like a hand, with each finger representing images, thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, and beliefs. Normally, these elements communicate with each other, but stress disrupts this communication, storing memories by association. This is why a smell or stressful situation can trigger a visceral response.

Using EMDR and bilateral movements, we can untangle these memory knots, reconnecting the prefrontal cortex with the back parts of the brain. This allows for the reprocessing of original events and new events in an adaptive, objective way.

As a therapist, I can help you navigate this uncomfortable reprocessing, offering tools to remove the 'debris' from your mental 'wounds.' This helps you become more reflective and broaden your window of tolerance, reducing vulnerability to trauma and the impacts of stress.

Guest Blogger Victoria Gray RSW MSW (Cand.) is now accepting new clients for EMDR and other concerns in the perinatal period and beyond! Book here.