When unresolved trauma raises its ugly head in a relationship, it can cause rifts and lack of intimacy. As a result, you may find it difficult to get close to your partner. The past trauma could also introduce unrelated conflicts into the relationship.
When left untreated, these situations can escalate into a flood of negative emotions that rip at the relationship’s foundations until there is nothing left.
EMDR was initially developed to help individuals cope with and recover from PTSD, but it has also proven effective with couples. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy can help. The process can help traumatized partners build intimacy, awareness, and support in a relationship.
When you work with an EMDR trained therapist, you can significantly improve your relationship by understanding your connection and how your trauma influences it. EMDR can teach you to let go of the trauma or reduce its intensity.
Whether the trauma happened before or after the relationship, EMDR will still help you process it. The eye movements or bilateral stimulation used during an EMDR session can help you understand and deal with traumatic events, including infidelity, dishonesty, emotional abuse, and PTSD.
When you understand how efficient EMDR is at helping people deal with their issues, you will know it could be very helpful for improving your relationship.
Using EMDR to Deal with Past Trauma
Traumatic experiences can weigh you down with a lot of emotional baggage. Stress disorders and other mental illnesses can make you feel like you always need to keep your guard up, which can cause emotional distancing in your relationship.
It could be that you endured abuse or neglect in a previous relationship, and the traumatic memories are coming between you and your partner. A trained EMDR therapist will use the technique to effectively identify these traumatic memories and create opportunities for you to process them.
When you can separate the pain from the traumatic memory, you will create room for vulnerability and openness in your relationship.
Healing From Past Trauma
When a previous partner caused you trauma, such as infidelity, substance abuse, or addiction, you may be letting your fear of it happening again get in the way of a healthy relationship. EMDR therapy enables you to consider the trauma without the associated intense emotional response.
An EMDR therapy session will not change your memories of a traumatic event. However, it can significantly impact how you react to those memories. In short, EMDR removes the negative emotions associated with the memory, so they no longer get in the way of you and your partner enjoying a healthy relationship. Think of it as the start of a beautiful new friendship.
Reduce Anxiety
Anxiety can dominate your thought processes, amplify your stress levels, and create physiological changes such as sweating and a pounding heart. During extreme anxiety episodes, you may feel frozen and unable to react or have an overwhelming desire to run away.
Conflict in a relationship can cause anxiety, making it hard to build a healthy connection with your partner. When you use EMDR therapy, you may reduce the stress level caused by the traumatic memories, giving you more control over your reactions and preventing the trauma from further eroding the relationship.
Emotional Healing
If you want to enjoy a new relationship to its fullest, you need to find a way to leave your feelings in the past. After a relationship ends badly, the sad, empty feeling may persist and block you from forging new connections. You may convince yourself that the current relationship will only end up in failure like the last one, despite your current partner treating you well.
EMDR has the power to remove the influence these negative emotions have over you. After EMDR therapy, your memories of past hurt will have little to no impact on your current relationship.
Change Bad Habits
Thinking about past traumatic experiences can become a routine habit, as can behaviors you use to build an emotional shield against further hurt. Many people who have endured trauma resort to unhealthy coping mechanisms like substance abuse or self-harm. EMDR provides a solution to not just relieve the pain but also to help you develop healthy habits that are better for you and your relationship.
Discover More about EMDR
Are you looking for ways to reduce the impact of trauma and emotional baggage on your current relationship? Discover more about how EMDR can help you to heal your past so that you can have a healthier relationship. To learn more, visit this page: Trauma Treatment