EMDR Therapy for Men
EMDR Therapy Is A Powerful therapy for men
Men deal with stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, and certain life experiences in a unique way. We also tend to experience mental health symptoms differently than women. Because of this, EMDR therapy is a powerful therapy that resolves what is keeping you stuck while building on the positive resources you already have as a man.
Are the important relationships in your life falling apart? Is stress at work getting the best of you? Are you bothered by a persistent fear, lack of joy, or anxiety? Maybe loved ones are telling you they are concerned about you.
These feelings are tough and confusing. Often times men don’t know what is at the root of our struggles. For most of us, these negative thoughts, behaviors, and feelings are caused by negative life experiences from the past, or even recently.
Meeting with a professional EMDR therapist will help you resolve these past experiences that have caused you to feel this way and help you to become a happier, more confident man who is able to meet life’s challenges in a healthy way.
What is EMDR Therapy?
EMDR Therapy for Men
EMDR is a well-established psychotherapy. It also seems to be an excellent therapy for many men. EMDR is often a shorter-term therapy, focused on symptom reduction through reprocessing negative life experiences. When thinking about starting therapy, many guys are worried that they will not know how to talk about their feelings. They also might be concerned that just talking about a problem over and over does not sound helpful. EMDR therapy for men addresses these common male concerns about therapy. EMDR therapy does not require you to talk in detail about painful experiences. EMDR therapy is a structured process where we get down to work to achieve symptom reduction, it is not about talking about your problems year after year with a therapist. EMDR therapy is a powerful therapy that resolves what is keeping you stuck and building on the positive resources you already have.
Men respond to stress, depression, trauma and life experiences uniquely. We also experience mental health symptoms differently than our female counterparts. Therefore, we explore how masculinity, gender roles, and expectations may be contributing and interacting with current struggles.
EMDR therapy is used to treat:
- Trauma/ PTSD
- Addictions
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Physical Pain
- Reduce Unhealthy Anger
- Positive reprocessing of past harmful memories
- Fear and Avoidance
- Resolve painful emotions
- Reduced intrusive thoughts and flashbacks
- Shame
8 Phases of EMDR Therapy
In the first phase of EMDR treatment, we explore your history, your goals and develop a treatment plan. This phase will include a discussion of the specific problem that brought you into therapy, and the behaviors and symptoms stemming from that problem. We will explore how masculinity, gender roles, and expectations may be contributing and interacting with current struggles.
In this phase, I will teach you some specific techniques so you have tools to manage any emotional disturbance that may arise. One of the primary goals of the preparation phase is to establish a relationship of trust between you and your therapist. In addition, we will identify positive resources that are unique to you as a male and work to strengthen them. For example, for some men being a father is a deeply rewarding and positive experience.
In this phase, you will be prompted by the therapist to notice different aspects of a specific memory. For example, this could be a memory from your childhood about your family or maybe it is something more recent.
In this phase, we reprocess the disturbing incident we discussed in the Assessment phase until it is neutral. You will still remember the incident, but it will no longer cause you distress.
The goal is to concentrate on and increase the strength of the positive response you have identified to replace your original negative response to your main incident or trauma.
Here I will ask you to bring the original target event to mind and see if any residual tension is noticed in the body. If so, these physical sensations are then targeted for reprocessing.
Closure ensures that you leave at the end of each session feeling better than at the beginning. If the reprocessing of the traumatic target event is not complete in a single session, we will assist you in using a variety of self-calming techniques in order to regain a sense of equilibrium.
At the beginning of subsequent sessions, we check to make sure that the positive results have been maintained, identify any new areas that need treatment and continue reprocessing the additional targets.
EMDR Therapists Have Specific Training
In order to be certified in EMDR as a therapist, at least 50 hours of training and education are required. I have found EMDR to be transformative for my clients who have experienced trauma. I am also an EMDRIA Approved Consultant where I provide consults to other therapists.
Stephen Rodgers Works Exclusively with Men on Men’s Issues
The traditional definition of masculinity says you are expected to publicly be strong and display only an aggressive persona. As a man, you “must” always be in control of your surroundings. To show vulnerability is not acceptable.
The problem with this narrative is it often leaves men to face emotional trauma alone and in silence. This also prevents men from processing their complex emotions. This rigid view of masculinity results in poor mental health, physical health, relationship problems and addiction.
Our special focus on helping men with emotional trauma, anxiety, and depression through EMDR therapy provides you with the unique opportunity to resolve the roadblocks in your life. We are redefining what is expected of the modern American male.
Our practice gives men the place and time to safely wander away from the difficult spot the American man is in these days. In therapy, we can explore what it means to be a man in today’s society, while we uncover the root causes of emotional trauma and anxiety that is keeping you stuck.
