EMDR & Brainspoting in Bend, Oregon

Name: EMDR and Brainspotting Services
Address: 296 SW Columbia Street, Ste. D-2, Bend, Oregon, 97702, United States
Telephone: (541) 550-7940

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Guiding you through life’s
challenges.

We are here to help, contact us now for an EMDR Consultation.

The goal of EMDR and Brainspotting therapy is to process traumatic memories, reducing their lingering effect

Trauma and its associated anxiety and depression can be incredibly difficult to endure. As therapists, we have seen how painful this can be for the client, their family, and friends. Often the individual feels alone and desperate, not knowing where to turn. What we have found to be incredibly effective in treating trauma is EMDR and Brainspotting (BSP). We use these therapies in addition to our other evidenced-based approaches to address PTSD and trauma induced anxiety.

These are therapies that work in a deep, efficient manner to bring about observable healing in the client. The goal of EMDR and Brainspotting therapy is to process these traumatic memories, reduce their lingering effects and allow clients to develop more adaptive coping mechanisms.

EMDR Treatment

If we are seeing an overall decrease of symptoms, it would make sense that there would also be an observable change in the nervous system. On a physiological level we do see evidence of this by brain scans by Daniel Amen, M.D.

Brain Scan - Before EMDR

Brain Scan – After EMDR

Before and after EMDR brain scans. Left photo shows a woman with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Right photo shows the same patient after four ninety-minute EMDR sessions. The red areas indicate overactivity in the brain.
— Photos by Dr. Daniel Amen

EMDR Treatment History

EMDR was first developed by Francine Shapiro, noticing that certain eye movements reduced the intensity of disturbing thoughts. Shapiro found when she was experiencing a disturbing thought, her eyes were involuntarily moving rapidly. She also noticed, when she brought her eye movements under voluntary control while thinking a traumatic thought, anxiety was reduced. She then conducted a scientific study in 1989. The success rate of that first study using trauma victims was posted in the Journal of Traumatic Stress. Shapiro soon developed EMDR therapy for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PSTD). She speculated that traumatic events “upset the excitatory/inhibitory balance in the brain, causing a pathological change in the neural elements. EMDR is now recommended as an effective treatment for trauma in the Practice Guidelines of the American Psychiatric Association. EMDR also has validation by the American Psychological Association, and the Department of Defense and the Veteran’s Administration.

To date, there are more controlled studies validating EMDR for the treatment of PTSD than any other treatment method. The previous standard-bearer in the field of psychotherapy was (and still is, to a great extent) Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Controlled studies have shown both to have an 80% success rate. EMDR has been shown to accomplish that result in 1/2 to 1/3 the time of CBT, with far less homework (100 hours for CBT, compared to 3 hours for EMDR). EMDR had a lower drop-out rate, as well.

EMDR and Brainspotting use a structured approach to address the past, present, and future aspects of traumatic or distressing memory.

David Grand, Ph.D. is a master EMDR therapist who has given international trainings in EMDR therapy to therapists. He has been an EMDR Institute Facilitator for trainings given to therapists in America. He, too, made a serendipitous discovery. For him, it occurred in the midst of doing EMDR therapy. He slowed down the eye movements greatly with his clients, and observed that this helped them process disturbing material more gently, and perhaps more effectively. This gave him the opportunity to observe that at particular positions of the client’s eye, he noticed reflexive eye-blinking. “Where we look affects how we feel,” is a natural phenomenon that Brainspotting uses through relevant eye positions to locate, focus, process, and release this wide range of conditions.

EMDR and Brainspotting use a structured approach to address the past, present, and future aspects of traumatic or distressing memories. This approach can be described in more detail by your therapist during your first session.