I have been trained in EMDR since 2016 and see a huge difference in my clients. The even better thing? They see the difference in themselves. EMR has broken through so many barriers with my clients.
 
For example, “Caroline” never worked through an abusive relationship until we did EMDR. We did 6 (six) sessions of EMDR reprocessing and it is likely cleared up. (We’ll find out this week). She remembers the abuse, but told me that thinking about it no longer brings up awful feelings or bodily reactions such as her heart pounding or shakiness.
 
“John” was afraid to drive due to a horrible car accident several months prior. He is able to drive again anxiety free after 11 sessions.
 
“Joanne” was violently attacked at work a year ago and had to change jobs due to the flashbacks and discomfort working there. 10 sessions of EMDR reprocessing later, the attack at work no longer bothers her and is not at the front of her thoughts.
 
Whereas these are only three examples, I can name off many others. Some people take longer and some shorter depending on a variety of factors, but I see this time and again with my clients. People want a quick fix. EMDR does not promise a quick fix, but it is often a lot faster than other forms of therapy.
 
There are so many great modalities of therapy, but how can you go wrong with a model of therapy that helps people feel better in sometimes as little as 10 sessions? Imagine what your life can be like in 3 months of EMDR reprocessing!
 
One of the things I think is most compelling about EMDR, however, is the fact that you don’t have to share with me (or your therapist), the details of anything you do not want to share. Your brain will heal without me needing to know everything. This is a huge relief to many of my first responder and medical professional clients.
 
EMDR is not for everyone or every type of issue and I highly recommend talking to a therapist to see if this therapy is right for you. If it is, jump in. It can be scary to do something new and it does seem a bit weird when the full process is explained, but I promise if you do EMDR with a trained therapist, you will make more progress in 10-15 sessions than I years of traditional talk therapy.
 
The EMDRIA site is a great place to learn more about EMDR as well as to find a therapist trained in your area.
 
This life you are living is more painful than it has to be. Give yourself the gift of a life free of nightmares, get your life, family, and career back. You are worth it. Your family is worth it.
 
If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer, even if we cannot work together. Please call me at 941-462-4807 or email me at meg@megberrylcsw.com
 
Take a look at some of my other blogs as well! They can be found on my blog page.

First of all, PTSD is not an illness, but an injury. When you get a cut or a bruise, it changes your body chemistry, right? You may bleed, discolor, or hurt. It may be raised. These changes occurred BECAUSE of an injury.
 
PTSD actually changes the brain chemistry. The area of the brain known as the hippocampus, which helps you distinguish between past and present memories shrinks (thus you don’t distinguish current car backfiring versus old gunshot). The area of the brain which is responsible for putting you in fight flight; protecting you from potential danger, known as the amygdala, has increased activity (causing the shaky feeling you get and the increased heartrate and breathing). The part of the brain which helps you regulate emotions and think logically, known as the prefrontal cortex also shrinks (causing you not to think logically, but think emotionally). The part of the brain which deals with panic and anxiety called the basal ganglia has increased activity (causing an increased hyper-startle response). The part of the brain which regulates emotion and processing called the Cingulate Gyrus is overactive (increasing feelings of guilt, second guessing, worry, and more). Finally, the part of the brain which plays a role in both motor function and some cognitive function known as the Cerebellum is overactive (this is where the increased hyper-startle response comes from).
 
Just like a traumatic brain injury (TBI) may cause people’s emotions or behaviors to change, PTSD will cause emotional and behavioral changes as noted above. The difference between a TBI and PTSD is your brain may or may not recover from a TBI, whereas you can recover from PTSD. This was not believed until recently as we learn more about the brain. With PTSD, you do not have to just manage symptoms any longer.
 
The good news about this type of injury is the changes in the brain may not be permanent. The sooner you seek help, the faster and more fully you will heal.
 
It is vital for you to understand that you are not sick or weak. Nothing is “wrong” with you. The purpose of the amygdala is to keep you alive. The amygdala will send out warning signals that what you’re about to do or what’s about to happen is life threatening. This happens whether the danger is real or not. The signal starts with adrenalin pumping through your body giving you the energy you need to survive by running or fighting.
 
Logic is turned off at this time. Thinking first could mean the difference between life and death. This is a primitive part of our brain which was very useful many years ago, but did not evolve as fast as the rest of humanity did.
 
So how do you heal from PTSD? First, keep in mind that nothing heals overnight. The process of healing takes time. The very first thing you need to do when the fight/flight takes over is make the logic part of your brain regain control of the situation. Once you do this, you can do what you KNOW you need or should do.
 
You will not stop the shakiness by turning on logic. The adrenalin is a chemical and is like having alcohol in your system. It does not go away just because you drink water. Once logic is turned on, you can act intentionally instead of emotionally.
 
That is the number one secret of getting out of fight/flight. Make logic regain control.
 
Turning logic on includes techniques such as any slow breathing technique which connects the body and brain in a calm state. Once you can think about what you “should” do, it is time to act intentionally: Do some exercise, yoga, meditation, muscle relaxation, distracting thoughts, etc.
 
Remember how I said you will not heal overnight? Don’t expect the breathing and getting out of fight flight to work miracles for you. The brain still wants to protect you and will set off the alarm at anything that could possibly, in the slightest, be dangerous. These skills get you out of fight/flight. They do not prevent it.
 
If your symptoms are frequent, or bothersome, therapy is the next step on your healing from this injury. Therapy can help the hippocampus distinguish between past memories and present, thus preventing current fight/flight symptoms from past experiences.
You are normal. You are strong. You deserve a life free of PTSD symptoms. Head on over to my blog page to read more of my blogs regarding PTSD.

Now that we are two weeks into the “New year,” how are you doing with your goals? How has your motivation been? I know for me, my motivation has been very slow. I actually put it out there to some of my facebook groups asking for tips for motivation to do what I “should” do when my motivation is elsewhere. You know what they shared? Everything I already knew: Put it in your calendar as an appointment. Jump in with one action step. Don’t try to do too much. Any action step is a step forward. Reward yourself.

But there were two responses that were absolutely amazing eye openers for me. The first was stop “looking” for motivation. Motivation will follow action. Light bulb! The consequence of action is motivation. I heard this about time awhile back and it really helped. Don’t find the time, make the time. If you want to exercise, you can’t find the time; there just isn’t the time. You have to make the time. So don’t look for motivation, just act. The second response was a youtube video which I posted on my facebook page Meg Berry LCSW but can be found on youtube Youtube video

I want to talk more about this video. I absolutely LOVED it. I loved it so much because Mel Robbins talks about motivation by using the brain. She explains the why behind lack of motivation by digging into the different parts of the brain, how and why each work, and how they interplay with your motivation. Here’s the deal with what she said: “Motivation is garbage. It is never there when you need it.” She explained that the brain is designed to protect you from anything which is considered dangerous. Anything new is dangerous. We don’t know what to expect, and therefore it is dangerous. So when you set a goal to go to the gym, this new behavior is considered dangerous. You get out of work, go home to change, but the way there, you tell yourself you’re tired and don’t want to go. When you hesitate, it sends a stress signal to the amygdala saying in essence, something is wrong. You didn’t hesitate to put your shoes on, or to brush your teeth, but you are hesitating now, so something MUST be wrong. Side bar: I explain the amygdala as a smoke detector – it doesn’t care if you burned the bread or your house is on fire; the smoke detector goes off. The amygdala doesn’t care if you really are in danger or not, it puts the body into fight flight just in case. So, back to the Mel Robbins: When you hesitate to do something, this stress signal is sent to the amygdala and the logic part of your brain shuts down (you KNOW you should go to the gym right now), but logic gets turned off. Emotions take over (fear frequently). Often this isn’t noticed as fear, but as lack of motivation. She explained that if you are stuck, you are in your head. You know what to do, but when you hesitate, it starts the cycle of being stuck as the amygdala activates.

How cool is this!? Motivation is not your problem. Hesitation is. If you look at your goals this week from a different point of view – from a standpoint of not hesitating to do what your goal is, you will take that first step towards action. When you leave the gym, you feel motivated and excited to go again right? Motivation follows action. Start action from the moment you notice hesitation. Mel Robbins gives a tool of a five second countdown. Say (out loud if you want) 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. One is an action word. Kids kick into action when you say “1” whether as a countdown or count up. It is an action word. It is also the end of the line. There’s nothing after 1. (And don’t tell me there are negative numbers) 😉 When you do a countdown, you interrupt the spinning cycle of your brain telling you not to do something, it gives your logic time to turn back on, and when you get to the action number of 1, you just do that one action step.

This week, try the 5 second count down for one of your goals every day. I’d love to hear how it works for you! It actually got me going on some of my goals!! (As did the other statement of The consequence of action is motivation.) You can share on my facebook page located at Meg Berry LCSW or send me an email at email. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Today is New Year’s Day. I worked at the hospital yesterday and ran a goal setting group. I felt very satisfied after the group as I talked about what holds people back from achieving their goals, normalizing this for them, and discussing solutions.

I really love seeing people progress as they transition to being who they want to be; meeting their goals and feeling strong and successful. It is such an honor to be part of this transition in people’s lives. There is so much chaos and stress in the world right now. To be a part of something so powerful as people getting on top of the chaos to the strong person they know they are is so inspiring to me.

There is so much negativity in the world. Maybe it shouldn’t be all completely gone. If you think about balance, opposing sides create balance. If everything is always great, would you really appreciate life? Balance allows you to appreciate life. We have a range of emotions for a reason. If everything is always great, you wouldn’t need that range. Would you then lose some of your humanity? I know, this is pretty deep!

Emotions in and of themselves are not a bad thing. It’s about understanding where the emotion is coming from and what you need to do right now. Sometimes it isn’t the right time to feel certain emotions. Notice that emotion and put it aside. Don’t forget to come back to it later. Stuffing emotions leads to outbursts (whether emotional, physical, or bodily such as headaches or digestive problems). Stuffing emotions and having a huge release will bring you back into balance similarly to eating too much sugar, getting all hyped up, and then crashing. It is not healthy. Don’t fear your emotions. You will actually do better at your job, with your family, and in life if you acknowledge and appropriately deal with emotions versus turning them off or stuffing them.

Maintain focus on you this year, but start small with self-compassion. Don’t make your goals too big; lower the bar to what is realistic. Don’t expect changes overnight. Just because 2018 will be a great year doesn’t mean it will start that way Jan 1. Set stepping stone goals for yourself and find accountability to maintain progress. Look for small gains which may show up in unexpected ways. Make 2018 your year!