EMDR Therapy for Childhood Trauma in Adults
EMDR Therapy in Bryn Mawr, Wallingford, Talleyville, and Across PA & DE
Sometimes the past doesn't feel like it's in the past.
You grew up. You built a life of your own. Some of it still follows you anyway.
When childhood trauma stays stuck, it can look like…
Suddenly feeling like you're back there all over again.
Constantly looking over your shoulder, even when nothing is wrong.
Feeling disconnected from yourself or what's happening around you.
Feeling nothing at all, like you're just going through the motions.
Waking up from nightmares with your heart racing.
What is EMDR Therapy?
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a structured, brain-body therapy that helps you process difficult experiences from your past, including childhood trauma, without having to talk through or relive every part of what happened.
EMDR is an evidence-based treatment for PTSD and is included in treatment guidelines from organizations including the World Health Organization, the American Psychological Association, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
How Can EMDR Therapy Help with Childhood Trauma in Adults?
When something very overwhelming or disturbing happens, your brain doesn't always get the chance to fully work through it. You can know what happened is over and still feel like it isn't. EMDR helps your brain work through that disconnect.
During EMDR, alternating eye movements, taps, or sounds are used while working with the past experience and what’s connected to it. This can include memories, emotions, body sensations, or unhelpful beliefs about yourself.
EMDR doesn't erase the memories of these experiences. It can make what happened feel less vivid, intense, and consuming.
Virtual EMDR Therapy in Pennsylvania and Delaware
I’m Sarah Sternlieb, an EMDR therapist who specializes in working with adults affected by childhood trauma throughout Pennsylvania and Delaware.
I use EMDR to help you work through experiences from childhood that are still affecting you now.
What Happens During an EMDR Therapy Session?
You won’t start EMDR by immediately moving into the hardest things that happened to you. EMDR follows eight phases, but they don’t all happen in one session. We may spend more time in some phases than others and move back and forth between them throughout therapy.
Before we start working directly with past experiences, we’ll spend time understanding what’s bringing you to therapy, what you want help with, and what we may want to focus on during EMDR. I’ll explain what to expect, and we’ll practice ways to help you manage difficult emotions.
When we start working with a difficult experience, we’ll identify what’s connected to it. This might include a memory or image, emotions, body sensations, and what you believe about yourself because of what happened.
I’ll guide you through alternating eye movements, taps, or sounds while you briefly focus on the experience. We’ll do this in sets and pause in between to notice what comes up. You don’t have to put everything that comes up into words.
As the experience becomes less intense, we’ll focus on what you want to believe about yourself now and notice how the experience feels in your body.
Before the session ends, we’ll take time to close out what we were working on. At the next session, we’ll check in on what you’ve noticed since then and how the experience feels now.
What Can EMDR Therapy Help With?
EMDR can help with childhood experiences that are still affecting your life now.
Childhood trauma can look different from person to person. Maybe there was one experience that you can clearly point to. Maybe things happened over and over, or were passed down in your family. Maybe you're not even sure whether what happened counts as trauma.
Thoughts and memories about what happened creep into your head, no matter what you do. Even the thought of thinking about it makes you tense up. You dread going to sleep because you don't know if you're going to have another nightmare. When something reminds you of what happened, you go blank. You don't know who to trust or how to trust. Intimacy feels scary.
You people-please and avoid conflict like the plague. The same relationship problems keep happening again and again.
You might believe things about yourself because of what happened, like “I’m unlovable,” “I’m too much,” or “I’m not enough.” EMDR can help with those too.
Maybe you’ve already connected the dots. But knowing why something is happening doesn't automatically make it better.
An Integrative Approach to EMDR and Trauma Therapy
While EMDR is the main approach I use in trauma therapy, I sometimes integrate other approaches depending on what would be most helpful.
For example, I may incorporate somatic and mindfulness approaches to support your nervous system, or parts work to tap into different aspects of you that are holding onto pain and old wounds.
EMDR sessions are 75 minutes, giving us more time to check in, focus on you, and ease back into your day before the session ends.
Getting Started
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We Connect
First, schedule a free phone consultation by clicking “Schedule a Free Consultation” to see if it feels like a good fit. In our early sessions, I’ll get to know you as a person: your story, strengths, struggles, and what truly matters to you.
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We Develop a Plan
We talk about what’s bringing you to therapy, what you’d like to be different, and where it would be most helpful to start.
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We Work Together
From there, therapy is tailored to you and what’s coming up along the way. We check in regularly and adjust as needed.
EMDR Therapy FAQs
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No. EMDR doesn’t require you to talk about everything that happened or go into detail about things you don’t want to share.
You can work with what you remember and what comes up without having to tell the whole story.
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Yes. You don’t need to remember everything that happened in childhood to do EMDR therapy.
EMDR can work with what you do remember and what comes up for you now, such as emotions, thoughts, body sensations, or situations that are affecting you.
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No. EMDR is not hypnosis. During EMDR, you’re awake and aware of what’s happening the entire time.
You remain in control while using eye movements, tapping, or other forms of bilateral stimulation.
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Yes. EMDR therapy can be effective for adults who experienced trauma in childhood.
EMDR can help traumatic memories feel less intense or upsetting and have less of an impact on you now. It can also help reduce symptoms related to your trauma.
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EMDR isn’t a talk-based therapy. Instead of focusing on talking through your experiences out loud, much of EMDR focuses on what comes up internally while using bilateral stimulation, such as eye movements or alternating tapping.
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Yes. EMDR can be effective when provided virtually.
I provide virtual EMDR therapy to adults throughout Pennsylvania and Delaware. Many clients appreciate the flexibility and convenience of meeting from the comfort of their own space. You’ll simply need a private, quiet location and a reliable internet connection.
Ready to Start EMDR Therapy?
If you’re tired of your childhood having this much of a hold on your life now, EMDR may be worth exploring.
I provide EMDR therapy for adults in Bryn Mawr, Wallingford, Talleyville, and throughout Pennsylvania and Delaware. I invite you to schedule a free 20-minute consultation to see whether working together feels like the right fit.