EMDR or hypnotherapy for trauma

A traumatic experience can profoundly impact your life. You might notice that certain memories keep recurring, that you feel emotionally stuck, or that your body keeps reacting to something that's long gone. Trauma can manifest in many ways: as anxiety, tension, fatigue, nightmares, irritability, or even physical complaints.

What you've experienced doesn't have to control you forever. As a psychologist and hypnotherapist, I help you process trauma safely and effectively. Together, we'll work to stop letting your past define your present, so you can experience peace and freedom in your life again.

What exactly is trauma?

Trauma occurs when you experience something traumatic that your brain can't process properly. This can be a sudden, intense event, such as an accident, abuse, loss, or violence. But long-term stressful situations, such as bullying, emotional neglect, or an unsafe childhood, can also have traumatic consequences.

When an experience is overwhelming, the memory remains unprocessed in your brain. This can cause the trauma to be reactivated repeatedly, for example, by certain sounds, smells, situations, or feelings. These are called triggers.

Many people with trauma try to suppress their feelings or avoid situations that trigger memories. This may seem to help in the short term, but it doesn't solve the underlying problem. Only when your brain processes the experience safely can the emotional charge diminish, creating space for healing.

How can I help you?

As a psychologist and hypnotherapist, I combine several effective methods to help you process trauma. We work both at the cognitive and subconscious levels, so you not only understand what's happening to you but also truly feel the burden lessen.

1. EMDR: Reducing the emotional charge

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a scientifically proven method that helps process trauma. With EMDR, we focus on the traumatic memory, while I stimulate your brain with bilateral stimulation (such as eye movements or alternating sounds).

This technique helps your brain reprocess the memory, reducing its emotional intensity. Many people experience relief from their symptoms after just a few sessions and find that the memory becomes less overwhelming.

2. Hypnotherapy: Breaking deeply ingrained patterns

Trauma can be deeply ingrained in your subconscious, affecting your behavior, emotions, and even your physical reactions without you even realizing it. Hypnotherapy helps you work directly with your subconscious and release old fears, beliefs, and blockages.

During hypnosis, I'll bring you into a state of deep relaxation, where your brain is more receptive to new insights and healing. In this state, we can replace negative beliefs with helpful thoughts, and you'll learn to look at your past with more peace and confidence.

3. Havening Touch: Calming the nervous system

Havening Touch is a gentle and effective method, developed by American neuroscientists, that helps process trauma at a neurological level. Through gentle touch on the arms, hands, and face, combined with targeted mental exercises, your amygdala (the fear center in your brain) is calmed.

This reduces the emotional charge of traumatic memories and makes your body feel safe again. Havening is especially effective for people who also experience trauma physically, for example, in the form of tension, panic, headaches, or a tight feeling in the chest.

4. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Changing Thoughts and Behavior

Sometimes trauma is linked to ingrained thoughts, such as:

• "I'm not good enough."
• "I can't trust anyone."
• "The world is a dangerous place."

These beliefs can cause you to limit yourself in daily life. With cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), we work to break these patterns so you can develop more realistic and positive thoughts. This helps you let go of the past and look forward with more confidence.

What happens in your brain during trauma?

During a traumatic experience, the fear center in your brain, the amygdala, becomes overactive. Simultaneously, the hippocampus, which organizes and stores memories, is disrupted. As a result, the memory remains stored in fragments, without your brain being able to process it properly.

This explains why some people experience flashbacks, feel emotionally numb, or overreact to certain stimuli. Your nervous system remains in survival mode, so to speak, even after the danger has long passed.

The methods I use—EMDR, hypnotherapy, and Havening—help reset these disrupted patterns so your brain can safely process and store the memory as part of the past.

What does a treatment plan look like?

Everyone processes trauma in their own way. That's why we tailor the process to your specific needs. This might look like this:

1. Intake interview – We discuss your complaints, your experiences and what you want to achieve.
2. Trauma processing – We choose the method that suits you best: EMDR, Havening or hypnotherapy.
3. Learning new patterns – With cognitive behavioral therapy and relaxation techniques we build more resilience and self-confidence.
4. Stabilization and aftercare – We ensure that you can apply the techniques in daily life, so that you experience lasting results.

Who is this treatment suitable for?

My treatments are effective for people who suffer from:

• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Childhood trauma and emotional neglect
• Anxiety and panic complaints
• Physical complaints with an emotional cause
• Negative self-image or limiting beliefs

Whatever you've been through, know that recovery is possible. You no longer have to be trapped in the past.

Take the first step today

Coping with trauma takes courage, but you don't have to do it alone. I'm happy to help you regain control of your life, so you can live with more peace, confidence, and freedom.

Want to know how I can help you? Feel free to contact me for a no-obligation consultation. Together, we'll ensure the past no longer defines your future.