Healing from birth trauma with EMDR
EMDR (or Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) is a well evidenced and supported psychotherapy approach that I use extensively in my work with people who are healing after birth trauma.
Experiencing birth trauma can leave lasting emotional and physical impacts, and can affect your experience of parenthood, as well as your capacity to connect with your baby. EMDR therapy is a powerful therapeutic tool that offers hope and relief to many!
Understanding birth trauma
Birth trauma is a term for the emotional and physical distress experienced at any point from pre-conception right through pregnancy, birth or loss.
It can arise from a range of experiences, such as a difficult labour or emergency interventions, as well as perceived risks to the safety of self, baby, or loved one.
The aftermath of birth trauma can manifest in various ways, including anxiety, depression, flashbacks, and a sense of disconnection from your baby and loved ones.
What is EMDR?
EMDR is a psychotherapy approach that helps individuals process and heal from traumatic experiences. Originally developed to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), EMDR has proven effective for alleviating the distress associated with traumatic memories across a wide range of trauma-related issues, including birth trauma.
The therapy involves guided eye movements, taps, or sounds while recalling distressing memories, helping to reprocess and reduce the emotional intensity associated with these memories.
There are many reasons why EMDR is a pivotal therapy in my counselling practice.
Here’s a few:
- EMDR does not require revisiting past memories or trauma in detail
- EMDR supports the brain’s natural pull toward healing
- EMDR is not a thought-based therapy, taking into account the mind AND the body – crucial when we know trauma is held in the body
- EMDR is widely documented and supported
- EMDR offers more than talking for those that have tried talk-based therapies in the past
- EMDR can help with many difficulties aside from PTSD recovery (for which it was first developed).
How does EMDR work?
When we experience trauma the recorded memory is fragmented or unprocessed – with bodily sensations, emotions, stories, and self beliefs that are mismatched.
Trauma becomes trapped in the body, without the all-important context or insight from our other memories or experiences.
The overwhelmed nervous system is then unable to file that memory in the past, so the body/mind/emotions continue to experience it in the present as fight/flight/freeze stress responses. This can bring with it all of the images, sensations, emotions, and thoughts that were experienced when the trauma first happened.
EMDR uses bilateral movements (often eye movements) to process the traumatic memory, connecting the past to the here and now, and helping the memory to be filed in the past.
This supports the nervous system to return a sense of safety to the body, mind and emotions, which often resolves ongoing symptoms and difficulties.
What is involved in EMDR for birth trauma?
EMDR therapy involves an 8-phase process, where we work together to gently identify the target memories within your birth experience that are causing present distress. We don’t focus on details or events. We provide visceral tools and techniques to give you resources for processing your experience so that you are fully held and supported.
We then use eye movements or other forms of bilateral simulation, such as sound, to process those memories, creating distance between the past and present, and desensitising the ongoing effects of that experience.
From there we use a similar process to install positive beliefs about yourself to replace negative beliefs and effects associated with the memory of your birth experience, so that you are able to move forward with a more positive core belief about yourself.
How EMDR can help with birth trauma healing
- Processing traumatic memories
EMDR assists in processing traumatic birth memories, allowing you to reframe these experiences and reduce their emotional impact. By working through these memories, you can lessen the feelings of fear, anxiety, and sadness associated with your birth experience. - Reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression
Many mothers who experience birth trauma report symptoms of anxiety and depression. EMDR can help alleviate these symptoms by addressing the root cause of the trauma, leading to a more balanced emotional state and improved mental health. - Enhancing emotional connection
Birth trauma can create a sense of disconnection from your baby and loved ones. EMDR therapy helps to rebuild emotional bonds by resolving the traumatic experiences that can impact these connections, supporting a more nurturing relationship with your child. - Empowering personal strength
EMDR empowers you to reclaim control over your life by addressing and healing from birth trauma. This renewed sense of strength and resilience can positively impact your overall wellbeing and parenting experience.
The 8 phases of EMDR are
1. History and treatment planning
In the initial phase, your therapist will collect relevant information to create a tailored treatment plan that suits your specific needs and circumstances. Together, you will identify significant aspects of your personal history, and you will gain insight into how those experiences relate to your present challenges
2 Preparation
In the second phase your therapist will explain more about the EMDR process and prepare you with what to expect during upcoming sessions. Any concerns you have will be addressed. They will also help you to develop useful tools and coping skills to support you in moving into the next phase of EMDR
3. Assessment
The assessment phase involves identifying the memories or negative beliefs associated with a particular disturbing event. The therapist has tools to guide you through this process, checking in on images, thoughts, feelings and sensations.
4. Desensitisation
During this phase, the therapist will guide you through brief sets of eye movements while you focus on the disturbing event, initiating the reprocessing of that memory. You simply observe what is happening in your thoughts, feelings, or bodily sensations at the end of each set. This process repeats and continues until the distress is minimised or resolved.
5. Installation
During the installation phase, the therapist will work with you to replace the negative beliefs and feelings associated with the traumatic memory with more positive, helpful ones. Eye movements are again used in sets.
6. Body scan
The body scan phase involves holding the original event and the positive belief in mind while mentally scanning your own body, identifying any tension or discomfort. And lingering tension or discomfort is reprocessed with further eye movements.
7. Closure
The closure phase involves bringing the session to a close and ensuring that you feel safe and calm before leaving. Your therapist will also explain to you what you may expect to experience between sessions.
8. Re-evaluation
In the next session, you and your therapist will review what has happened for you between sessions. This may include identifying changes to your memory of that event, or changes to your symptoms or situation. It involves identifying the need to continue processing that memory or moving to the next disturbing memory identified in Phase 1 or 2.
Seeking professional support
If you’re experiencing challenges in the aftermath of birth trauma, please know that accessing trauma therapies, like EMDR, can lead to significant improvements in your mental health and quality of life.
It is NEVER too late to begin working through and healing from birth trauma experiences. If you’re looking for 1:1 EMDR support, as a specialist perinatal and birth trauma counsellor in Australia, I can support you to find clarity, to safely explore your experiences, and to be resourced with the tools and skills to navigate parenting while you heal from birth trauma.
Contact me to chat how EMDR may benefit you: https://fionarogerson.com.au/contact/
