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Information about EMDR and DBT

DBT stands for Dialectical Behavior Therapy, which is a type of therapy that is all about opposites: it helps you work with your emotions, thoughts, and behavior, instead of against them. It helps you to feel your experiences, rather than run away from them. 

In DBT you will learn 4 core components:

  • mindfulness, the ability to be here in the present moment, often using one of your five senses
  • interpersonal effectiveness, or how to develop better relationships with others
  • emotion regulation, or how to stabilize your moods or feelings
  • distress tolerance, or, how to manage feelings and events that can't be changed

These concrete skills can help all clients. They can be tailored to your therapy session, and practiced in every day life!

Alexis Murray-Golay, LCMHC, has been using DBT skills in therapy for over a decade. She believes it can be helpful to most clients.. To learn more, or have a free consultation, please leave her a message at 924-7462 ext 7, or email alexisgeorgina@gmail.com

EMDR was developed in the early 80's by a therapist, Francine Shapiro, who realized that looking back and forth repeatedly helped her to feel calm when thinking about troubling things. She came to understand that eye movements seemed to decrease the distress associated with her own troubling memories; she found that her clients had the same experience in response to eye movements. Outcome studies have supported the efficacy of EMDR as a treatment for PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), as well as depression, anxiety, and phobias. 

EMDR works by bridging the left brain and right brain through facilitating eye movements back and forth across your field of vision. This is very similar to what happens in REM (Rapid Eye Movement) during sleep, when we often process what has happened during the day. We can also bridge right and left brain by tapping back and forth (using a gadget called TheraTapper), or alternating sounds in your ears. This bilateral stimulation helps get memories "unstuck". Usually, memories are "stuck" in one side of our brain or the other, where they are either very emotional or very rational. Bridging the two sides together helps people make sense of the memories, bring the intensity of them down, and create lasting insights. 

Alexis Murray-Golay, LCMHC was trained in EMDR 10 years ago and uses it extensively in her practice to treat PTSD and other psychological conditions.  You can reach Alexis at 924-7462 ext 7.