How to Use EMDR for Emotional Resilience at Midlife with Kambria Evans
Sep 18, 2023
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In this episode, Kambria Evans, an EMDR Consultant and Brainspotting Clinician, discusses the power of EMDR therapy and its impact on mental health. She provides valuable insights on how EMDR works, neutralizing disturbances, and the interplay between menopause and hormones. The importance of validation, choosing narratives, finding skilled EMDR clinicians, and interrupting looping thoughts are emphasized. They also explore techniques for creating our own mental curriculum and the brain's natural inclination to heal.
EMDR therapy can help women navigate the challenges of menopause by integrating positive memories and beliefs to counteract negative ones and decrease distressing experiences.
EMDR tools, such as bilateral tapping, can be beneficial for self-soothing and regulating emotions, particularly for menopausal women experiencing emotional vulnerability.
EMDR therapy offers the opportunity to integrate positive experiences into memory processing, reducing the intensity of negative emotions and enhancing overall well-being.
Deep dives
Using EMDR to Process Trauma and Rewire the Brain
EMDR therapy is a powerful form of therapy that helps individuals process trauma and rewire the brain. It combines various therapeutic approaches to efficiently address disturbing experiences and negative beliefs. By using bilateral stimulation, such as eye movements or tapping, EMDR accelerates the brain's ability to process traumatic memories and integrate them with positive resources. This therapy can help individuals overcome limitations, release negative emotions, and create new, more empowering beliefs. It also emphasizes the importance of incorporating the body in the healing process, as the body stores both positive and negative experiences. EMDR allows individuals to choose the curriculum of their brain by integrating positive triggers, effectively decreasing the intensity of disturbing memories and expanding resources for healing.
Understanding Menopause and EMDR
Menopause can be a challenging time for many women, both physically and emotionally. Hormonal changes during menopause can impact the brain, creating a battle between the amygdala, responsible for emotional responses and safety, and the prefrontal cortex, associated with positive possibilities. EMDR therapy can help women navigate this stage by providing education and understanding about the menopausal brain. By using EMDR techniques, women can integrate positive memories and beliefs to counteract negative ones and decrease the intensity of distressing experiences. This therapy empowers women to choose their own curriculum for processing their emotions and thoughts during menopause, ultimately soothing and regulating their responses.
Utilizing EMDR Tools for Self-Soothing
EMDR tools can be beneficial for self-soothing and regulating emotions. In moments of distress or when triggered, individuals can tap into positive memories, beliefs, or figures, real or imagined, that bring comfort and safety. By using bilateral tapping or other forms of bilateral stimulation, individuals can regulate their bodies and create a sense of calm. These tools can be particularly helpful for menopausal women experiencing emotional vulnerability and heightened sensitivity. By instilling positive, self-soothing practices, individuals can create a resourceful environment within themselves and counteract negative feelings.
Integrating Positive Experiences with EMDR
EMDR therapy offers the opportunity to integrate positive experiences into one's memory processing. By focusing on positive triggers, such as cherished memories or nurturing figures, individuals can tap into those sensations and beliefs that bring about a sense of comfort, safety, and expansion. By utilizing bilateral stimulation, either through tapping or other methods, individuals can reinforce these positive experiences and create stronger neural connections. This integration of positive resources alongside desensitizing disturbing memories helps individuals rewire their brains, reduce the intensity of negative emotions, and enhance their overall well-being.
The Power of EMDR Therapy
EMDR therapy can help individuals unstick from negative thoughts and beliefs. By rewiring associations and narratives in the brain, EMDR can provide clarity and congruence, enabling individuals to break free from old adaptations that no longer serve them. It helps to change the brain's links and create new, positive connections. EMDR therapy is not just for trauma but can be used to address incongruent and limiting beliefs. Through EMDR, individuals can rewrite their own mental curriculum, empowering them to feel in control of their thoughts and lives.
Practicing Self-Love and Harnessing Superpowers
Daily self-love practice involves choosing to trust oneself. Despite various societal invitations to disconnect from ourselves, it is important to trust our own judgments and instincts. This practice can be modeled for others as well. Another superpower is the ability to create positive adaptive material by capturing moments of safety, calmness, or happiness. These experiences become a resource during difficult times, enabling individuals to tap into their adaptive material and navigate challenges with greater resilience.
Kambria Evans is an EMDR Consultant and Brainspotting Clinician, and in this episode she delves into the powerful realm of EMDR and its impact on mental health. With a background in psychotherapy and extensive EMDR expertise, Kambria not only helps Dr. Mindy navigate her personal journey but also empowers listeners to explore EMDR techniques for quick trauma resolution and cognitive rewiring. The episode offers a lifeline to women facing emotional challenges during menopause, emphasizing the importance of feeling heard, presenting actionable answers, and promising a valuable resource list for global support.
Explore EMDR therapy, focusing on support for women in menopause, with Kambria Evans. In this episode, she discussed how EMDR works, its ability to neutralize disturbances, and the interplay between the menopausal brain and hormones. She also stresses the importance of validation, choosing narratives, and finding skilled EMDR clinicians is emphasized. You will learn about techniques to interrupt looping thoughts and the power of creating our own mental curriculum.
To view full show notes, more information on our guests, resources mentioned in the episode, discount codes, transcripts, and more, visit https://www.drmindypelz.com/ep197.
With a Masters in Education from Vanderbilt, Kambria has been creating trainings and teaching adult learners for over 20 years. As the Director of Education and Quality Improvement at Stanford Medical School, she created ease in complex systems, thereby giving medical trainees successful learning experiences. Now, as a dedicated mom, therapist, and EMDR Consultant, Kambria knows what it means to do things efficiently, effectively, and in a learner-centered way. When she isn't podcasting or creating online courses, you can find Kambria playing with her twins on a beach in California.
