EMDR For Veterans and Their
Families
“I wanted to thank EMDR for helping my son. I was grasping for something to help him recover from his time spent in Iraq and as his mom, knew not what to do. EMDR was referred to me by a dear friend and I put my faith in it. I saw my son for the first time since his initial visit with you and he is a changed man. He has color in his face and the shallow, pale, distraught look is gone. EMDR gave me back my son. Thank you! I wanted you to know that this procedure has helped save a young soul from a lifetime of problems.” SK
This program is dedicated to helping military veterans find out about and access the benefits of EMDR Processing to get relief from their wartime experiences. We also want to get the word out to family members of veterans, as well as First Responders.
What Vets should get help using EMDR?
All vets from any war probably need help with finding better ways to cope with the stresses of their wartime experiences. Problems such as an exaggerated startle response, nightmares, anger and agitation can all be helped through the use of EMDR counseling.
What about family members?
Family members of combat Veterans and First Responders also experience severe stress and suffer from PTSD. They need to know about EMDR so they can get they relief they need, as well.
What about First Responders?
First Responders are people who arrive first at the scene of emergency, crises situations. They can be Firemen, Police officers and/or Para-medics. After a long enough time in a job like that, the bad memories will start to accumulate and start to get triggered more easily, and the effects will be increased drinking, even more anger, irrational behavior and generally not getting along as well as you know that you can.
First Responders would also include dispatchers and office support personnel. Being involved in a trauma in any capacity can cause your nervous system to increase production of the chemicals that cause the brain to start storing the memories (emotions, body sensations, thoughts) implicitly.
When memories are stored as ‘implicit memories’ they are immediately accessible and easily triggered. When they are triggered, they are retrieved in the original form, such as, emotions (fear,anger or grief), body sensations (tightness, tension, nervous stomach) or thoughts (unfairness, self-depreciating, or awareness of existential aloneness).