We all know how it feels when someone you love dies suddenly or in an unexpected way. There is numbness and overwhelm. And then the mind struggles to make sense of the loss. It wrestles with the frailty of life in the face of disease and accidents. It brings up memories and images of the loved one...
A client, whom we will call Doris, was 50 when she first came to see me. She brought with her a long list of ongoing issues—chronic dissatisfaction, simmering anger, ruptured relationships, sexual dysfunction, depression, anxiety and low self-esteem.
Doris first presented as confident. She had a...
Clients who are easily triggered into a state of hyper-vigilance, may tell you they’d prefer to respond from a place of calm. Completely understandable! But making “calmness” the desired outcome after processing can be equally problematic.
In this quick, compelling video, Deany Laliotis shares a...
Grief is not unhealthy…It is the normal response
to an abnormal event. Kirsti A. Dyer, MD, MS.
Grief is a universal human experience. Each griever’s experience, however, is unique. There is no prescription for how or how long a person should grieve. And without a blueprint to help guide grievers...
Resourcing can be invaluable when a client needs support for navigating an anticipated challenge—such as a life crisis or the demands of reprocessing. It can be any quality or attribute that offers a client the support they need to approach, such as confidence, calmness, equanimity to name a few.
As...
Couples are complicated. And when each partner has their own trauma history, it can be even more complex. They each have their own histories, and then there’s the history of the couple. So, of course, they trigger each other. And much of why it happens is out of their awareness, so day-to-day...
Hope Payson, LCSW, LADC is a widely respected expert in the treatment of addiction and trauma and an EMDR Consultant. She is highly sought-after trainer, consultant and presenter. The Center is offering her 12 CE training—Treating Addictions with EMDR Therapy: A Path to Reconnection. Check it out...
Let’s face it, one of the common adaptions to trauma that therapists share is the overdeveloped role of rescuer. It is easy for some of us to step into the trauma triangle through this dynamic. It is so automatic we may not even notice when we do.
As trauma therapists, we understand that when we’re “triggered” by present situations that are similar to what we’ve been through before, the most important thing is to know that we’re triggered. We all know what it’s like to be “in it” rather than observing our reactions. To use a common metaphor...
Winter is only a month away and with its shorter days and longer nights, we can expect, again this year, a spike in cases of seasonal affective disorder (SAD). SAD is recognized as a major depressive disorder that...
The issue of fidelity has been around for as long as EMDR has been in existence. In the early days, before any training and accreditation standards existed, we discussed our cases together informally. We shared our fears and our mistakes as well as our triumphs. Francine published a newsletter with...
It has been two and a half years since COVID turned our world upside down. Images of death and dying flooded our screens, minds and bodies. The heroism of essential workers and their sacrifices weighed down our hearts. Death tallies rose daily with no...