What is EMDR? Inside the practice that helped Valerie Bertinelli

She takes it One day at a time.

While walking the streets of New York City this week, “Hot in Cleveland” actress Valerie Bertinelli spoke about the “mental and emotional blows” she suffered.

“It’s really a tribute to our human brains, hearts and bodies, because our bodies carry trauma,” Bertinelli, 65, said on Wednesday. In a video on Instagram.

Bertinelli’s trauma goes back to childhood. She was “He was literally born into grief“Because her older brother Mark died of accidental poisoning while her mother was pregnant with her. Her parents suffered in silence and did not open up to her until she was a teenager.

She also experienced emotional, mental, and verbal abuse in her romantic relationships, which led to major body image issues and led to her using food and alcohol to numb her feelings.

I have since found comfort in Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), which is trauma-focused psychotherapy and is usually an eight-stage process.

The therapist has the patient remember a traumatic event while guiding him through eye movements that mimic the rapid eye movement that occurs during sleep — when the brain normally processes events — or other forms of rhythmic stimulation to help the brain reprocess the memory.

The eight stages are:

• Selection of memory for processing
• Learn how EMDR works and develop coping and relaxation skills
• Recognizing images, beliefs, emotions, and sensations associated with memory
• Relieve distress by following the therapist’s fingers as they move back and forth, listening to alternating tones through headphones or tapping on the body
• – Replacing the negative belief associated with the memory with a positive one
• Ensure that there is no physical tension or discomfort associated with the memory
• Close the session to allow the patient to return to a stable calm state
• Evaluate progress and adjust if necessary

“EMDR and speech therapy have helped me tremendously, and now I can walk down certain streets without going into trauma again,” Bertinelli said. Thursday on Instagram.

“I encourage you to get help if you need it and I want you to know that it gets better.”