Sadly, disturbing experiences, whether major traumas or other kinds of upsetting events, can overwhelm the system. When that happens, the intense emotional and physical disturbance caused by the situation prevents the information processing system from making the internal connections needed to take it to a resolution. Instead, the memory of the

This is obvious if you’ve ever awakened in the middle of a nightmare. The nightmare is simply your brain trying to process the information. The images reflect the emotions that are being reactivated. For instance, a woman who was molested as a child may have nightmares that a monster is chasing her. When that memory is dealt with during EMDR

Our task is to recognize when we have thoughts, emotions or physical responses that are destructive, negative or harmful—and then do something about it.

As responsible adults with sufficient knowledge, we have the power to take control of ourselves.

Changing the memories that form the way we see ourselves also changes the way we view others. Therefore, our relationships, job performance, what we are willing to do or are able to resist, all move in a positive direction.

We are all subject to reactions that researchers call the “halo effect.”

We may plan to do something, but our inner life takes over and we become distracted.

EMDR therapy targets the unprocessed memories that contain the negative emotions, sensations and beliefs. By activating the brain’s information processing system (which will be explained in Chapter 2), the old memories can then be “digested.” Meaning what is useful is learned, what’s useless is discarded, and the memory is now stored in a way that

There are generally about 10 to 20 unprocessed memories that are responsible for most of the pain and suffering in most of our lives.