Yes EMDR therapy can help you reach and heal your inner child often better than talk therapy alone.

The body does in fact keep the score just like research has proven for years and your inner child lives deep within your nervous system. A vagus nerve that is over or under-active and adrenal fatigue can often be the result of unprocessed trauma. EMDR therapy has been around for decades, and it is backed by science. This one of my favorite modalities as both a therapist and client. I have done both talk therapy and more somatic work like EMDR and once you try EMDR work you will never want to do just talk therapy again. Keep reading to hear more about why as a local San Diego therapist, I highly recommend clients give EMDR a try if they want deeper healing of their inner child.

EMDR therapy is different from talk therapy, it speaks to your nervous system.

Lots of people reach a point in traditional talk therapy where they feel stuck or like they have talked about pretty much everything. But still, they don’t feel like they have truly processed their issues. Whether it is recovering from childhood trauma, bad relationships, or general anxiety and burnout. I see this all the time in my San Diego private practice. As a couples therapist, I mainly work with couples struggling in their relationships. I often refer my couples to work on their issues individually too, with and EMDRIA trained EMDR therapist, that way couples therapy progresses quicker and more effectively. Money issues, sex, and in-laws, you name it I work with it daily.

EMDR therapy in San Diego for Latinas and BIPOC.

As a Latina couples therapist in San Diego, I often help people see just how much their culture and upbringing might be impact their relationship. And EMDR can really help you heal deeply from the trauma that comes from growing up BIPOC.

However, I do work with a small group of individuals who are struggling with their relationships and have (whether they know it yet or not) attachment issues stemming from childhood. Often I recommend we try EMDR to help them process deeper because talk therapy can only do so much for inner childhood wounds.

To this day, I have never had someone in my San Diego private practice not like doing an EMDR therapy session; almost always, they find it dramatically more helpful than talk therapy alone. Why does EMDR work differently than talk therapy? Keep reading to learn more.

Why talking alone is not enough to heal your inner child.

EMDR is a somatic therapy modality. Basically, when you experience something stressful or traumatic, it gets stored in your body, not just your mind. Being bullied as a child, having neglectful parents, and having your heartbroken, can all stay with you even if you have talked about it in traditional talk therapy. More and more research is proving just how much our bodies are impacted when we go through stressful and traumatic things in life. So it would only make sense that we should be treating the body in addition to the mind when someone is seeking therapy for relationship issues, burnout, ADHD, and really anything else they might be struggling with. As a fellow Latina of an immigrant single mother, growing up I didn’t realize just how much my body stored. In my brain, as an adult, I knew I was safe and that things were okay now, but in my body, I struggled to feel safe, secure, and confident in my choices. EMDR has been a game changer for me in being able to live a more calm and confident life.

As a therapist practicing here in San Diego, I have connected with fellow EMDR colleagues from all over the county, and we all agree that deeper therapies just help our clients way more than talk therapy alone.

EMDR therapy can help you connect with your inner child.

Our inner child is a part of self that forms when we are very young. It is like the little version of you who was full of life and potential before life got hard and stole your shine. Imagine what it would be like to reconnect with this part of yourself. Imagine what it would be like to have the little you not feel alone, hurt, and afraid.

EMDR therapy in San Diego can help you heal your inner child.

Once you are able to connect with your inner child with the help of parts work and EMDR therapy work, the real healing can really begin. In EMDR therapy, you can heal your inner child and help that little one let go of the pain and fear so that you both can step into a better life. In my San Diego EMDR therapy practice, I like being able to blend parts work with EMDR for the best results. People naturally connect with the idea of having a sad part, a happy part, and an afraid part. I love the movie Inside Out for normalizing how this experience is very much a real thing for most people.

EMDR therapy in San Diego can help you become more confident.

EMDR not only focuses on the negative side of how something impacts you, it also helps you talk into an adaptive part of yourself. We all have an adaptive part of self, but it can be harder for some people to connect with this part. This is where EMDR therapy can help you find a calmer and more confident you. Just imagine what your life would be like if you felt more confident. You would finally start that business, go after that dream, travel, or ask out that person you are head over heels with. The possibilities are limitless when it comes to create the best life you can for yourself.

EMDR Therapy in San Diego can help you create the future you want.

EMDR therapy can help you get unstuck and manifest your best life.

A therapy modality that doesn’t just dwell on the past.

One of the main reasons I love using EMDR with folks in my San Diego therapy practice is that EMDR focuses on the future too. Lots of people spend years talking about the past in therapy, but we forget just how important the present and especially the future are to healing deeply. EMDR can help you really visualize a future where you have created the ultimate life for yourself. Where you are thriving at home and work, where you have a community of deeply loved friends, and where you are no longer afraid to take up space in this world.

Reach out to me and I would love to talk more about how EMDR therapy can help you finally process the stuff you have gone through in a deeper way. That way you can start creating and living the life you deeply deserve.

With Warmth,

Elisa Blair