The therapies with the strongest research support for trauma are trauma-focused therapies, and EMDR is one of them. It's one of the treatments the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs strongly recommends for PTSD. In our experience, EMDR combined with a somatic therapy like Sensorimotor Psychotherapy works best, because together they reach the places where trauma lives on: our brains, our bodies, our reactions, and our thought processes.

It's individualized. The length of trauma therapy depends on the complexity of your trauma history and on how much safety, support, and community you have in your life right now. If you're under a lot of stress, we slow things down so the work stays manageable. Meeting at least weekly, or doing an EMDR Intensive, keeps the work moving, since sessions spread further apart lose momentum. For someone with a complex trauma history, it can take longer.

Most people can benefit from EMDR, but not everyone is ready to start processing right away. EMDR has eight phases, and anyone can begin with the first two, history-taking and preparation, which focus on getting to know you and building tools. We hold off on processing, or use a modified approach, for people who are highly dissociative, are experiencing psychosis or another severe mental health condition, or are in a highly stressful situation. Even a stressful season isn't automatically a no, since there are specialized EMDR protocols that allow processing to move forward. That's why a skilled EMDR therapist screens carefully before processing begins.

In my experience, the hardest trauma to heal from is complex trauma, especially when the abuse came from a family member, someone we were supposed to be able to trust. With complex trauma, there's trauma to the body and trauma to the attachment system, and each is treated differently. That's why trauma therapy can take longer: we're healing both what happened to the body and what happened to the attachment system.

Yes. Healing from complex PTSD often takes longer, but it is possible. As people move through trauma therapy, they begin to do the things they once avoided with ease, and there's a real freedom in going through life without carrying the heaviness of the trauma. Many people move from a disempowered place to an empowered one. They start to see themselves in a neutral to positive light and recognize the resilience that carried them through, which they couldn't see before.

At Mindful Living Counseling Orlando, trauma therapy costs 150–180 per 50-minute session, depending on your therapist. We're out-of-network providers, so we can check your out-of-network benefits and give you a superbill to submit to your insurance for reimbursement. If you're not sure what your plan covers, we're happy to look into it with you during your free 15-minute consultation.