How EMDR Can Help Your Relationships

Therapy can change your attitude, emotions, and relationships if you can find the right therapist. If you’re looking for a counselor in St. Petersburg, it can be hard to figure out which therapist is the right fit for you. There are so many specialties out there, and the fact that their true meaning is hidden behind letters like EMDR, DBT, and CBT only complicates the matter. 

If you’re seeking improvement in your relationships, then EMDR Therapy could be a great benefit to you. By targeting your most intense memories and soothing you through them, EMDR can help you address the relationship trauma in your past and find hope for your future. 

“Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary. The people we trust with that important talk can help us know that we are not alone.” Fred Rogers

Can EMDR Therapy Help With Relationships? 

EMDR Therapy can be highly effective in improving relationships by addressing unresolved trauma and emotional patterns that may interfere with connection and communication. Often, individuals carry the impact of past experiences (such as attachment wounds, betrayal, or unresolved conflicts) that shape how they perceive and interact with others. 

Michael Anthony, LCSW, is a counselor who uses EMDR and mindfulness to help his patients find peace and harmony in their relationships. Working with a couples counselor who specializes in EMDR can help you unpack the emotional baggage we all carry so that your relationship can continue unburdened by the past. 

Do People Dissociate During EMDR Therapy?

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) uses bilateral simulation to hack your brain into a calm state while recalling difficult or traumatic memories from the patient’s past. This process can be incredibly intense, and it’s not uncommon for patients to dissociate from the experience when revisiting particularly sensitive memories. 

Therapy is work. Having the right therapist is like having a really good guide. A skilled EMDR therapist can guide you out of the dissociation and back into your body. So although dissociation is common, it is not an insurmountable barrier to entry. 

Can EMDR Help With Relationship Trauma?

If you or your partner suffers from relationship trauma, you already have some understanding of how deeply that can impact your relationship. Innocuous events in our everyday life can trigger intense trauma responses, and it requires more effort on both ends to successfully communicate. 

However, when we’re equipped with the context, self-knowledge, and coping skills of therapy, our trauma response can be managed and our traumatic past can be accepted (even if we don’t approve of it). So how specifically can EMDR help relationships?

• Therapy For Intimacy Avoidance. People with trauma around relationships often avoid intimacy as a coping mechanism. This can look like periods of physical intimacy avoidance, but also in risky sexual behaviors like sex addiction and infidelity. 
• A Therapist Who Can Help You Set Boundaries. When you’ve been traumatized, setting boundaries can feel like an impossible task. Working with a skilled counselor can help you learn how to set boundaries in a healthy and sustainable way.
• Counseling For Communication Issues. None of us were given an operations manual when it comes to communication. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move. The right couples counselor can give you and your partner an operations manual for effective communication. 

Where Can I Find An EMDR Therapist In St. Petersburg?

Michael Anthony provides EMDR Therapy in St Petersburg, FL. EMDR can be highly effective in treating relationship trauma. Michael says that while EMDR is effective, it will not magically fix your relationships. Sometimes, when we heal our relationship trauma, we end up letting go of relationships that are no longer good for us. The beauty in this is that once we let go of the unhealthy relationships, we create space for healthy, intentional relationships with others. 

 If you are wanting to begin EMDR with Michael Anthony at Integrative Counsel, our intake specialist will get you started. Click here to schedule a consultation.

Sunny Ebsary is an educator, multi-modal artist, and writer specializing in the intersection of myth and mental health. Sunny’s writing walks the line between poetic and logical, giving readers a chance to interface with the mind and imagination. Sunny’s been putting pen to paper since he was a child, writing everything from albums, novels, and plays, to essays, interactive games, and of course, many articles! While studying both psychology and writing, he realized his real passion in life was helping others unlock their creative spark. Whether he’s leading a D&D game, directing a production, or diving deep into the brain, you can be sure Sunny will be ushering you toward finding meaning in your life.