How Can EMDR Help With Back to School?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is helpful for managing anxiety around going back to school, especially for those in high school or college year in many ways!
It helps to reduce your stress response. EMDR helps to ‘desensitize’ our emotions to those stressful triggers. Stress responses look like emotional, behavioural and physiological responses that show up in our body and mind if there is something that looks or feels threatening to us. It is the body’s natural ‘alarm system’. The body’s natural alarm system shows up as: having a fast heart rate, fast breathing, tight muscles, sweating, fight or flight response, or even an upset tummy.
It helps to process and reframe negative beliefs. Have you ever had thoughts that just seemed ‘too much’? Maybe you are an overthinker and think of every bad scenario that could possibly happen. You think ‘what if something horrible happens’ or ‘no one will like me’ or ‘I’ll have no friends’? These are common thoughts that many have before starting something new. As humans, we don’t like change. We are routine-oriented beings who thrive off consistency. Going to a new school can really shift that for us. Of course you are feeling worried or anxious about it. This is a very normal response to change!
We can work on coping strategies: When we work on EMDR, there are many coping strategies that you will learn. From mindfulness tools, to using a container and calm place. There are endless strategies that can help. These strategies can be incorporated not only for starting school, but it can help with many parts of your life, for example, meeting new people, starting a new job, or dealing with that difficult friend. You can learn life-long tools to manage the stress and anxiety. I often find that we are our worst critic. Through this, we can also work on positive affirmations and self-talk.
It can help with managing and regulating your emotions. We all can feel overwhelmed when we are starting something new. Once you learn these tools to help with regulating your emotions, you will be able to manage these huge ups and downs in a healthy way. EMDR will help you make connections that you may not have otherwise made, which can assist with gaining more depth and understanding towards difficult situations.
We can address specific triggers. Let’s say you’re having challenging thoughts around being bullied. Maybe you fear failing your classes. Perhaps you are thinking about how daunting it is to have to go to school and face those that you had trouble with last year. EMDR can help work through these triggers.
While Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing can sound intimidating, it is something that can help support you in easing these anxious thoughts, feelings, and negative self-beliefs. It can be difficult to try something new, so please ask any questions you may have about EMDR. EMDR is one tool out of many tools that can help to ease those stresses and worries.
If you are curious about trying EMDR, feel free to reach out to me. I provide in-person counselling for teens at our Langley, BC office.
