Depression Counselling
After years of trauma and challenges, our nervous system protects us by freezing.
How EMDR Can Treat Depression
Sometimes our systems need mobilizing.
After years of trauma and challenges, our nervous system protects us by freezing.
EMDR works by bringing the client into a state of heightened alertness (through rapid eye movements and vibrating) which releases norepinephrine which then secretes dopamine as a reward for focusing your attention on the traumatic event and pairing that with something new.
Additionally, simply moving the eyes bilaterally, while recounting a traumatic event, quiets the amygdala.
It suppresses activation of this threat detection centre in the brain, because of the way that we view the visual world when we move forward and things flow past us.
The Research Has Shown…
Research on EMDR and depression has looked at fear of big looming objects that typically either trigger freezing or running and hiding.
EMDR triggers a third option—not run and hide. Not freeze. But forward confrontation. So, the act of moving forward in the face of adversity.
This is the “Growth Mindset”—I am going to lean into the challenge, which naturally is difficult among people who have suffered from depression.
This circuit, is linked to the dopamine reward pathway. When we move forward in the face of a threat, in a controlled environment, like that of EMDR and a trained specialist, we suppress activity of the amygdala, through the physical action of moving forward, and a signal sent to the areas of the brain that control dopamine reward. Those reward centers then trigger the release of dopamine to reward forward effort in the face of stress or threat.
