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A 'trauma' is an emotional experience that someone has witnessed or been part of that is outside their expectations or comfort zones in normal life. The body struggles to let go of the attached emotions naturally, but EMDR can help.
EMDR can help with trauma through being part of, or witnessing, accidents or incidents; trauma such as abuse (sexual, emotional or physical, including bullying, perhaps from many many years ago). EMDR is also the treatment of choice for trauma related to professions, for example, experiences of police officers, ambulance staff, soldiers, etc. The Trauma may be on a huge scale - earthquake, volcano eruption, plane crash or be a more common occurrence such as a car accident or bereavement. EMDR is also used for very simple or more complex fears or phobias - heights, vegetables, insects or ladders, to name but a few.
Trauma often creates memories that "seem like they were only yesterday" even though the event may have happened many years ago. Just as strong, positive memories can lift our spirits, negative ones can bring us down. Often traumatic memories or related thoughts can spin around in your head and bring with them all of the unpleasant emotions and beliefs from the time when they occurred. They can cause flashbacks, nightmares, panic attacks and other seemingly inexplicable symptoms (for example, fast breathing, sweaty palms, tight chest, fears for your life, etc.) These can be triggered in everyday life without you knowing why. They can come to mind when you least want them to, changing your moods, preventing you from taking part in things you would really like to be part of or stopping you from getting a good night's rest.
The good news is that you can process them away using this technique called EMDR.