I first entered individual therapy in the late 1980s, in Manhattan. Once a week for six years I strolled happily northward up Columbus Avenue from my apartment to my therapist’s office in the West 90s. Our sessions were a high point of my week. And why not? I got 50 minutes of undivided attention from a smart, empathetic professional, there to help me find out who I was and to address the old malaise that brought me to her door. “Narcissistic injury,” I learned to call it.
Procrastination has become a dirty word in an economy built on productivity, product life cycles, and publication deadlines. We may admit we procrastinate, but rarely about the specifics. Procrastinating on impressive projects like a dissertation, a book, or a big project at work is o.k. Cleaning out the cat box, getting our kid to the dentist, or changing the oil in our car: Not so much.
I look down at my disheveled clothes, wipe the sweat from my face and wonder, “What just happened??” My head feels like I went twenty rounds. I struggle to focus my vision as blood pulses through my temples and slams against my mangled ear drums. In the silence of my car I can only hear a low, white noise-like buzz ringing in my ears. I barely survived that damn shopping mall. And on a Tuesday afternoon, no less.
As an intuitive person shopping malls are not a winter wonderland. The decorations do not dazzle. Shiny bobbets? Festive music? No thank you. These quickly become painful and invasive sensory bombs.
I remember when we lived in homes with soft curves and animal skins.
EMDR or "Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing" is a mind-body approach to change.
EMDR is meant to change highly charged memories for the purpose of reducing distress while strengthening adaptive thinking.
