The Reaction Gets There Before You Do
You worked out why a long time ago.
EMDR therapy for late-diagnosed autistic and ADHD adults, in Paonia and across Colorado.
You Already Know Where It Started
You can name the year it started.
The person, the room, the exact sentence that landed.
You’ve explained it to a therapist before, and explained it well.
The explaining changed nothing about what happens the next time it turns up.
Understanding it and being free of it turned out to be two different things.
Your Days Are Stitched to That Year
A tone of voice.
Somebody going quiet on you.
The thread pulls, and the whole day snags on a year you’re not living in anymore.
Argue with it all you want. It won’t stand down.
It’s old, and it still gets the last word.
The war ended years ago, and you deserve to stop reporting for it.
Name the Thread That Still PullsEMDR Goes to Where Your Thread Is Tied
Your brain built that reaction when it was needed, and then kept it running long after the need went.
That’s an adaptation with its own logic, whatever you’ve been calling it since.
EMDR reprocessing works on the memory the thread is tied to, so the pull on today gives out at the source.
Untie it at that end and the pull on today goes slack.
How Your Week Changes as the Threads Come Loose
The change is unglamorous, and you notice it late.
- Somebody says the thing, and the day just carries on.
- Hear the tone that used to set you off, and keep eating.
- Catch the reaction as it rises, before it takes the hour.
- Bring up that year without your voice changing on you.
- Let a raised voice belong to somebody else's mood.
- Finish a hard conversation and sleep the same night.
The reaction still starts, and it stops taking the rest of the day with it.
Three Phases, and Memory Work Is the Second
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1
Know What Pulls
First we work out which threads still pull, and what happens in the minutes after one does. You'll have something to do in those minutes before we go anywhere near the memory.
You get the tools before the target. -
2
Loosen the Knot
This is where EMDR does the work, and where the Flash Technique sometimes goes first. We work on the memory until it stops dictating the hour it turns up in.
The old year quits running this one. -
3
Build Around Your Values
With the memory reprocessed, we use ACT to get specific about what you want your life aimed at now that there is room to aim it.
Your energy goes where you point it.
There Is a Version of Your Life Where This Ends
Call Now for Your Free ConsultationWhy Trust Me as Your Partner in Healing
The Work Narrowed a Long Time Ago
Thirty years as a licensed clinical psychologist, most of it now spent with adults who got the autism or ADHD answer late, and I'm EMDR trained, moving toward certification, not certified in it.The Explanation Comes Before the Method
You'll hear what the method does, what it will ask of you, and where it gets uncomfortable, in full, before we schedule a single round of it.Almost Nobody Here Is New to Therapy
Nearly everyone I see got here after a course of therapy that left the reaction exactly where it was, so that's an ordinary starting point here.
Warren H. Phillips, PhD
Thirty years into practice, one moment still keeps me in this work: the Unmasking Breakthrough, when a client finally understands the why underneath a lifetime of struggle.
I'm a licensed clinical psychologist in Colorado, Iowa, and Minnesota, and I've trained doctoral students in psychotherapy and psychological testing for more than twenty-five years.
Frequently Asked Questions
That’s most of what I see. When it ran for years instead of minutes, we work through it in pieces, in an order we set together, instead of aiming at one target.
Less than you’d think. EMDR runs on whatever piece you do have, an image, a sound, a feeling in your hands, and the gaps don’t need filling in for the work to move.
By design, not much. You keep what the first phase gave you for the days when the thread pulls, and whatever turned up in between is where we start next time.
We stop, and we handle it in the room before you leave. Nothing carries over into your week without a plan attached to it.
You’ll notice it outside my office first. Something that reliably set you off arrives smaller, or later, or you finish the day without having replayed anything.
Take the First Step Today
The reaction starts, and you recognize it as old before it finishes happening. That’s the whole change, and it’s smaller and better than it sounds.
You already know which thread this is about, and you don’t have to decide anything about it on a first call. Fifteen minutes on the phone, at no charge.
Threads that old can still be worked loose.
What Happens Next?
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Payments & Services
Services are billed on a session-by-session basis.
We provide superbills for insurance reimbursement and accept HSA/FSA.
No hidden fees – all costs are explained before you begin.