Thinking about Therapy?
Take our quiz to see therapists who are a good match for you.
Take our quiz to see therapists who are a good match for you.
Have you ever felt stuck, trapped by the thoughts and memories of your past? Have you ever felt completely frozen, withdrawn, or panicked when things remind you of those thoughts and memories? If so, you are not alone, and there is hope for a better life where you can become unstuck and no longer feel that intense distress from the past.
Our brains are made up of two sides, the logical side that holds all of our problem solving skills, communication skills, and logical thinking, and the emotional side. The problem is that those two sides do not get along, so when our emotions come on, the logical side goes offline until we can lower our emotions. The only time they do communicate and work together is during the stage of REM sleep where our eyes are moving back and forth and our brain is processing all of our short term memories (our thoughts, emotions, and experiences from the day) and putting it into our long term memory (also known as our neural pathways). Our neural pathways are constantly updating and expanding with the information we transfer each day. However, when we experience trauma, our neural pathways that hold the trauma stop growing and updating. They become stuck, and so every time we experience anything in our environments that resembles that trauma (whether a sight, sound, smell, or feeling) our brain automatically zaps us back to that place of trauma and tells us that we are in danger, something bad is going to happen. This is where we feel that intense distress and often feel frozen or panic.
So how do we become unstuck? By working with a therapist, we first learn more about ourselves and our brain. We learn to recognize our thoughts, emotions, and triggers, challenge and reframe our negative thoughts and self-talk, and learn more effective coping skills that can help us as we move forward. We then use Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) to link the two sides of our brain together and force them communicate during session to open the stuck neural pathways and allow them to heal, adapt, and grow once again. By doing this, we decrease the intensity and frequency of distress we previously felt. The memories are still there, but we are no longer held prisoner by them.
If you are feeling stuck, please reach out today and see how Life’s Healing Journey, PLLC could help you become unstuck. You can call or text (325)644-8757 for a free 15 minute consultation. I look forward to talking with you soon!
