Guest Blog Post: Healing Attachment Wounds with EMDR Therapy with Beth O’Dell
Hi! I’m Beth, a dual-licensed mental health and addictions counselor in Maine and New Hampshire and owner of Northlight Counseling and Consulting. I help adults navigate anxiety, trauma, and life transitions with compassion, offering a supportive space to feel heard and grounded.
Healing Attachment Wounds with EMDR Therapy
Why should you consider EMDR Therapy? Have you ever wondered why you continue to find yourself feeling insecure in your relationships? Your stomach drops when they don’t text you back right away, or you constantly replay conversations wondering what you did wrong. Maybe you feel worried that your partner is going to leave you, and you seek constant reassurance from them. Maybe you don’t understand why your partner isn’t meeting your unspoken needs. You may find yourself moving in and out of relationships quickly, fearing the idea of being alone. Or perhaps you find yourself constantly alone, unsure why you can’t find a relationship that sticks.
EMDR is an eight-step protocol that first builds safety and then guides you through processing traumatic events when you’re ready. It allows you to take maladaptive thoughts and beliefs and transform them into more adaptive, grounded ones. In the context of attachment trauma, this protocol can support you in breaking long-standing patterns and building healthier connections with yourself and others.
At the center of this process is the therapeutic relationship you build with your counselor. This relationship creates a healing parallel process that mirrors secure attachment and provides the experience of not having to navigate pain alone. It gives you permission to explore harmful patterns and challenge negative thoughts and beliefs. This relationship, combined with EMDR, helps heal attachment wounds and transform how you relate to the people in your life.
As healing unfolds, you will slowly start to experience real shifts. Instead of panicking when a text goes unanswered, you notice the anxiety—but it no longer hijacks your whole day. You start to trust that people can show up for you, rather than constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop.
You deserve relationships that feel safe and secure, and EMDR can help you rewrite the patterns that keep you stuck. If you’re ready to move from insecure to secure, anxious to confident, avoidant to present, consider exploring EMDR for healing attachment wounds.
About Beth O’Dell
If you’d like to learn more about working with me, click here to check out my website or my psychology today profile. You can also check out my Instagram account here.