If you are experiencing anxiety and depression every Christmas then EMDR could be what you are looking for to change that habitual, seasonal mood state.
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprogramming (EMDR) is a highly effective way to break the annual anxiety and stress that Christmas causes you each year by making it possible to change your emotional state. Endorsed by the World Health Organisation as the best treatment for PTSD, it also helps with a wide range of mood disorders with long lasting results.
For many of us the dread of Christmas is more a reality than the feeling of joy the holiday season is expected to bring. Some of us are triggered by a history of bad Christmases, family feuds or the financial stress of purchasing the perfects gifts to please family members.
Many of us also re-experience grief and loss of relatives or friends no longer with us. Even the build up to Christmas can leave us feeling let down and downright miserable. It is no wonder January is the noted as the most depressing month of the year. There is the increase of Domestic Violence at Christmas time due to the increase of financial stress and alcohol abuse. More suicide attempts recorded around this time. Some folks actually experience (SAD) Seasonal Affective Disorder, a depressive disorder that strikes each year at the same time.
Re-traumatisation, depression, anxiety and stress are rife in the holiday season. Whether you experience SAD, anxiety or just a general malaise at this supposedly festive time of year EMDR can help you to reprocess that negative emotion. Imagine if Christmas were something to look forward too, a time you felt calm, relaxed and joyful rather than depressed or anxious.
EMDR is a psychotherapy that helps to change the belief and meaning you make from neuro-networks of painful memories and fears of distressing situations. It works in the same fashion as your REM sleep, the deep dream-state sleep you experience each night to process your day. In this state we are able to filter the distressing events and memories of adverse experiences we have stored on somatically. EMDR is an evidence based treatment that works at detachment from these emotional triggers and installation of adaptive and more positive emotions.
For more of a definition on EMDR and where to get treatment go to