EMDR Therapy for Addiction Treatment

When treating addiction, it’s not solely the substance abuse tendency that must be addressed. To attain long-term sobriety, one must also address the underlying causes of the addiction. For many, this underlying cause is a mood disorder or a mental health condition such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Many who have worked diligently at treating their addiction find themselves relapsing time after time. This is because they have not addressed the underlying cause or co-occurring disorder fueled by the addiction. Addiction treatment must treat the human as a whole, not solely the residual action of substance abuse.

What Does Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Do?

What if you could change the way you react to trauma and stress? What if you could replace self-limiting beliefs with self-empowering ones? What if you could process traumatic memories and heal from distressing events of the past? EMDR empowers you to do so.

How Does EMDR Work?

By stimulating the brain to process unhealed memories, EMDR desensitizes the emotional charge of memories and allows the individual to reprocess how those memories are stored in the mind and body. This is a natural restoration and adaptive resolution to trauma. EMDR works by decreasing the emotional charge (desensitization, or the “D” of EMDR) and by linking to positive memory networks (reprocessing, or the “R” of EMDR).

Why is EMDR Effective in Treating Addiction?

Many individuals who suffer from substance abuse do so because significantly stressful experiences of the past have overwhelmed their brain’s natural capacity to process trauma in a healthy and adaptive way. This is why a small trauma has the power to lead those who have attained sobriety after addiction to a major relapse. The cause of many mental health issues is ineffectively processed information stored in the mind and body. Past trauma may be inadequately digested and thus cause further distortion and inability to adequately digest new trauma without the aid of substance abuse as a coping mechanism.

EMDR Therapy at Synergy Hills Rehab in Lake Elsinore, CA

At Synergy Hills , EMDR is provided by a licensed and experienced therapist. Through a client-centered approach, we have guided patients to make great breakthroughs and recovery. If you seek to gain understanding and a fresh perspective, we encourage you to learn what is happening in your mind and body. Through EMDR, this is made possible. Contact Synergy Hills today to attain long-term recovery through treating co-occurring conditions with a focus on dual diagnostic care.