Excel Behavioral Health is part of the Excel Treatment Centers network.
Excel Behavioral Health is part of the Excel Treatment Centers network.
If you’re searching for a proven way to heal from distressing memories, difficult experiences, or unresolved trauma, EMDR therapy offers hope. Our trained professionals are here to guide you every step of the way in a safe, supportive environment.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a form of psychotherapy that helps individuals recover from traumatic life events, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and other emotionally difficult life experiences. EMDR is unlike many other talk therapies because it specifically targets the way that trauma is stored in the brain. By focusing on unprocessed memories, EMDR can reduce the emotional response to a painful event and help clients regain control.
EMDR was developed in the late 1980s and, since that time, has been researched and refined to become a gold-standard treatment for trauma. EMDR is especially helpful as part of the treatment for PTSD and can produce lasting benefits for individuals who are seeking to recover from overwhelming life events.
EMDR therapy is based on the concept that traumatic memories or negative experiences often remain ‘stuck’ in the brain, causing distress whenever they are triggered. EMDR helps reprocess these memories, so they lose their intense emotional charge and become less painful.
The Eight Phases of EMDR Therapy
EMDR follows a structured, eight-phase protocol to ensure that treatment is safe, consistent, and effective. Here’s an overview of what these phases look like:
In this phase, your therapist gets to know your history and identifies the traumatic memories that need to be addressed. Treatment goals are established in collaboration with you.
In preparation, your therapist explains the EMDR therapy process to ensure you feel comfortable and safe. You’ll also learn techniques for managing stress and staying grounded during the sessions.
The therapist works with you to pinpoint the specific memories and emotions associated with your trauma, including negative beliefs and physical sensations linked to the experience.
This is the core of EMDR therapy. Using bilateral stimulation, such as guided eye movements, your therapist helps your brain process and reduce the intensity of traumatic memories.
Positive beliefs are “installed” to replace old, negative ones. For example, “I am safe” might replace “I can’t protect myself.”
Your therapist will guide you in tuning into your body and identifying any lingering physical tensions tied to trauma. This phase ensures that healing is not just cognitive but also physical.
At the end of each session, your therapist ensures you feel grounded and calm before you leave. Coping strategies are reinforced for ongoing emotional regulation outside of therapy.
In subsequent sessions, your therapist assesses your progress and identifies whether further reprocessing is needed to fully resolve the trauma.
At Excel Behavioral Health, we understand the deep and lasting impact that trauma, stress, and overwhelming life experiences can have on mental health. For individuals navigating life after traumatic events or coping with challenges like anxiety and depression, EMDR therapy offers a powerful path to healing. This evidence-based approach helps individuals process unresolved emotional pain, recover from distress, and regain a sense of control over their lives.
Symptoms of PTSD can include flashbacks, nightmares, hypervigilance, or distress related to traumatic memories. These can cause significant distress and impact one’s daily life. EMDR is a well-established therapy for PTSD. It effectively targets the symptoms of the disorder. By reprocessing traumatic memories, EMDR reduces their emotional impact, helping individuals regain emotional equilibrium.
You want to enjoy life, but anxiety weighs you down. Anxiety can result from trauma or chronic stress. When it takes over, it can seem impossible to manage. EMDR helps to reprocess the negative belief or unprocessed emotion driving anxiety. This relieves your anxiety symptoms and allows you to form more effective coping strategies.
Depression can leave individuals feeling isolated, hopeless, and fatigued, often stemming from underlying trauma or negative thought patterns. EMDR therapy helps identify and address the deep-seated beliefs or difficult memories contributing to a client’s depression. Reframing these experiences creates space for renewed energy, optimism, and emotional stability.
Panic disorders and phobias are often rooted in significant emotional events that continue to influence a person’s reactions. With EMDR, individuals can reprocess these events, creating a more balanced response to triggers. This approach allows clients to reduce overwhelming fear and regain calm in situations that previously caused distress.
The suffering that results from grief and loss can persist long after the actual event. If the loss is related to trauma or if there are complicated emotions tied to the loss, processing it can be especially difficult. EMDR therapy provides tools for clients to process loss in a safe and structured environment. At Excel Behavioral Health, we can help clients move through their grief and rebuild resiliency and strength.
Abuse, whether physical, emotional, or sexual, is a form of trauma that can take years to recover from. EMDR can be done in a safe environment and allows clients to work through the pain of these experiences without the traumatic event being re-experienced. Through EMDR therapy, reprocessing of memories of abuse or violence can be a way to heal from emotional wounds and get your life back.
Many EMDR therapy clients who visit New Jersey practices do so because it’s been described as life-changing and effective. So if you’re looking to heal from years of trauma or just general emotional pain, EMDR can be highly beneficial in these ways:
Compared to traditional therapy methods, EMDR therapy often yields significant results in fewer sessions. It is designed to target specific traumatic memories and beliefs, allowing clients to progress efficiently.
EMDR is a natural and non-invasive treatment that focuses on empowering the mind to heal itself. It provides an alternative to medication-based approaches, making it ideal for individuals seeking a natural path to recovery.
Even for individuals with a long history of trauma or deeply rooted emotional pain, EMDR therapy provides a highly effective framework for healing. Clients can process multiple challenging experiences to build long-term resiliency.
One of the most notable benefits of EMDR therapy is its ability to reduce the emotional grip of past experiences. Clients often report feeling liberated from the triggers, flashbacks, and self-doubt tied to trauma, with renewed confidence and clarity.
EMDR therapy achieves more than emotional relief—it also restores the ability to focus, maintain healthy relationships, and move forward with confidence in day-to-day life.
At Excel Behavioral Health Center, our EMDR therapy sessions are thoughtfully designed to offer comfort, guidance, and measurable progress. Every client’s experience is tailored to fit their needs, ensuring they feel safe and supported throughout the process.
Trauma can leave you feeling overwhelmed and out of control. At Excel Behavioral Health, we are passionate about supporting you on your recovery journey and regaining control of your life. Our New Jersey EMDR therapy team includes experienced, licensed clinicians who specialize in trauma recovery treatment.
Trusted Experience and Skill
Therapists at Excel Behavioral Health are highly trained and certified in EMDR therapy. With years of experience, our clinicians are skilled at developing a treatment plan that is customized to your needs and targets recovery.
A Healing Environment
To recover, you need to feel safe in your environment. We are committed to making our center a space where all of our clients feel accepted and can focus on their healing without fear of judgment.
Personalized Care
Trauma affects more than just your mind. We treat the whole person and understand the importance of personalized care. EMDR therapy is just one part of your recovery, and our services work in tandem with other treatment options, including mental health and outpatient services, as well as addiction treatment.
You don’t have to let trauma and emotional pain control your life. Excel Behavioral Health can help you recover from trauma and live with confidence using evidence-based EMDR therapy in New Jersey.
Take control of your life and get past the effects of trauma today. Call Excel Behavioral Health now to find out more about our EMDR therapy or to book your introductory appointment. Let us help you find lasting relief and a better future.
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