Change Your Brain Every Day - A EMDR Therapy Session with Tish Cyrus

Episode Date: August 4, 2026

In this throwback episode, Dr. Daniel Amen performs eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy with Tish Cyrus in order to help her process past traumas and pave the way to move on from these negative thoughts. EMDR is a gold-standard treatment method for lessening the impact that past traumas can have on your life. For more information about EMDR Therapy, visit https://www.amenclinics.com/services/.... #emdr #emdrtherapy #tishcyrus Want to schedule a visit? Our highly trained specialists can guide you through the process so you and your loved ones can get the help you deserve.   https://www.amenclinics.com/ SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE BRAIN HEALTH NEWS & TIPS https://www.youtube.com/subscription_... If you or someone you know would like more information about Amen Clinics, please call us or visit https://www.amenclinics.com/. Within the U.S. call 1-888-288-9834 Outside the U.S. call 1-949-266-3700 http://www.amenclinics.com/ https://www.brainmdhealth.com/

EMDR is very special and stands for eye movement, desensitization, and reprocessing. Whenever we're traumatized, it gets locked in our brain. I mean, physically with the images and the sounds and the thoughts and the smells. and if our brains don't process through it, it literally gets stuck. And it can cause you to stay home for years, right? Because you have so much anxiety. What the eye movement tends to do, or the bilateral stimulation, because sometimes you can do this, sometimes people do tapping.

It just helps you reprocess it. But from an adult perspective, rather than something that you process as a child or something that happened many years ago. And now you're so confident and so experienced, it's important to take your good mother and mother that part of you that was wounded. Wow. Does that make sense? Yes. And what I've seen with EMDR, because I've done scans before and after, it takes that overactivity and it settles it down. Yes.

So why don't we start with the thought of being embarrassed and the health issues? And you can't screw this up. Let's just be really clear. All I want you to do is follow my fingers. Think about what we talk about. Imagine yourself on a train. And let's just see where your brain goes. Sometimes it'll go to the past, to other events.

Just want to see what's linked to it. And so remember on a scale of zero to ten, you said, this is upsetting an eight, like if I travel, die, I'm going to be embarrassed. Let's just see where it goes. Okay. Ready? Yep.

So I want to just follow my figure. Take a breath. Tell me what comes up. Getting on a train with someone besides like my comfort is what I was doing. And it just makes me feel jittering. And the feeling of my brain going, please don't let that happen. Please don't let that happen. You know, like that's just how I feel when I start thinking about even the possible.

ability of doing that. Who are you saying that to? Myself. Okay. So I want you to just imagine the thought, getting on, feeling jittery. And let's see where that goes. Let's see what that's linked to. Take a breath.

Where did you bring up? To our bus. To where? To our bus. Tell me. Being sick on the bus and then having the kids and the dead. And like, maybe it's a lot of it too is like I always keep everything together.

And if I'm not okay, I don't feel like that's what it is now, but maybe before I do feel like I'm the only one in control at all at this moment. And if I lose control, it is not good. So let's go back to the train, or go back to traveling, feeling jittery,

feeling, oh my God, I'm going to be embarrassed. And let's see where that goes now. Okay. Take a breath. Where'd your mind go? It just felt the same, really. Just me and Molly sitting on a train.

Anything in that? No. Feeling anxious, feeling jittery. Feeling pretty calm. But, yeah, just Molly and me. Well, let's have Miley not be on the train this time. And have you be with whoever else you want to be. and see what happens.

Okay, take a breath. Really, it's just me sitting on the train and me sitting there going, how am I feeling? Am I? Right now I'm feeling very calm, which is good. But mostly just me thinking, am I going to be okay?

And I do know I'm highly functioning that's why I think now doing the work that I've done because really I really can't believe the change in my life from January till now. And like I said, in January, February, there's no way I would have believed I would have been sitting here.

Highly functioning. I have my moments, but I'm functioning. A lot of the moments go back to my going to be sick. Totally. So let's work on that. That is what it is. And before your dad got sick, did you have any health anxiety? No.

So let's go back to that time. Because the idea is you're not going to be okay. What if I get sick? I'm going to die and there won't be somebody to help me. So let's start at that dog. Take a breath. What came up? Mostly on that, it was just seeing my dad and things that he went through.

Like little flashes of everything my dad went through. That was so, well, and most of the time, once again, like, I had to be there. Because at that point, my mom also had had a horrible thing happen where an artery broke in her nose. Have you ever heard of that? It was so crazy. And so we were in Baltimore at Johns Hopkins because that's where my dad was once he had his voice box removed. That's where he had it done. And we were at the hotel there.

This is the most terrific thing I think I've ever had to deal with. And I'm young. I was, I guess, 17 or 18, go on 18. And all of a sudden my mom yells for me to come in the bathroom. and we're in this place that you would stay at Johns Hopkins. And I ran in and literally, I'm not even kidding you, the entire sink was filling it with blood so quick because it was like just every time her heart,

it was like gushing. So I called 911. They came and got us and took us to the emergency room. And which my dad was in the hospital, just had his voice voice box removed. And my mom is now in the hospital with this happening. and she literally had to sleep setting up for six weeks because they put this thing called a balloon in her nose to stop the bleeding.

So once we got, flew back to Kentucky, where I'm from, I just remember having to really take care of my dad because my mom literally is on the couch sleeping straight up for six weeks trying to not, and I'm an only child. You know, like it was me and my mom and dad. So you're completely overwhelmed. I remember the time my dad got a shot and we were walking into, and again, he couldn't talk. We had one of the tracheotomy things in, and we were walking into their business because my dad was such a, I'm still going to work kind of guy.

And he had gotten this shot and I don't know what had happened, but I look and like the whole back of his pants were just, it was just blood. And we're going like, Dad, like, and then putting him back in the car because my mom's sick to take him. So, yeah, and I think about it is a lot of health stuff with my dad that I saw like such a young age. It was scary. So take your adult self now. Mm-hmm. And what would you say you're 17, then? Yeah.

What would you say to your 17-year-old's son? Like, what an amazing daughter, first of all, you were to be able to do that. And, like, I'm sorry you had to get that alone, because I really did. Like, we had no other family. It was me, my mom and dad, and that's it. So I went you get on the train with her with the 17-year-old, but also from the perspective of your good mother, who has seen spirits on what came up?

Just that what I would say to her is also, like, you saw so much. And actually, a lot of that was going back and forth to Baltimore from Kentucky, traveling because other things happened there too I think it's kind of me saying to myself the things

that Molly has said to me is like I think also sometimes I'm like my life has been so awesome and so like I feel so

fortunate and blessed for the life that especially that I'm leading now and I also I say a lot of time is like

why me why did I get to live, but actually looking back on it, I realized like I've actually been through freaking a lot. I mean, it's like I didn't know about the details of that stuff. It was horrible. I mean, that's a nightmare. It was terrible. And I just,

you survive. I was thinking coming back from Baltimore, my mom couldn't drive because she had a balloon in her nose. I guess I could have, but I guess my dad was adamant even though he had just had all this, like he was driving. And I just remember him putting the car supposed to be in reverse and he had it in driving, like, went over this little, like, parking

curb. And he was so upset about it. And I just remember being sad that he was embarrassed, that he did that. And because he was so embarrassed. And I'm sure, I don't even remember what happened after that. I just remember I was really sad that my dad was so embarrassed and that he was so sick. And my dad was like, like, he took care of me, my mom. Like, he was amazing.

The best dad ever. And I think maybe that was a lot How I feel is like he probably was feeling like he wasn't in control anymore And I know that made him so sad and embarrassed too Because he really didn't take care of my mom and me He was awesome And I guess after that I'll never forget when my dad died That it was just me and my mom sitting there

And it was kind of just like the two of us Which was pretty scary Too, you know Pretty scary to be Because he'd always taken care of you? Yeah, and it was like we were like, you know, it was me and my mom and dad, and we were so close. And then I think, like, my mom, like, to this,

I mean, she wore a wedding ring until she passed away, you know, another 30 years. She would have never, like, they just had this most incredible special thing. I feel a more compassion for your younger self. A lot. And despite all of that. It's been fine. Yeah.

Yeah, it really has. And then... So if we think of traveling and the anxiety, you're someone that can deal with a nightmare and come out okay. That's where I've got to get to my brain to know that I can. I'll be fine. Let's do that. I'll be fine.

No matter what, I'll give fun. What came on? What came up? Really just... on the train with my AirPods in, just seeing myself being okay. There's this great story I read of the grandfather who told his grandson that there's a war going on in his head between two wolves that like a really bad, evil, hateful, scary, awful wolf and a really fun, loving, peaceful wolf. And the grandson says, which wolf?

is going to win. And the grandfather said, the wolf you feed. But you've been feeding. Yeah. The scary wolf. Absolutely. You've been getting that wolf treats.

Major treats for a long time. Right. And what does it say in the Bible? Philippians 4-8. Think on whatever is pure, right, lovely, good, excellent, worthy of praise. Let your mind dwell.

In Romans 12, too, I just love so much. Be trans. formed by the renewing of your mind. People know that first, but they don't know the second part of that first, which is then you'll be able to test if it's God's good, perfect, and pleasing well. And these anxiety thoughts are not God's good, perfect, and pleasing will. No.

Because he talks about the Lilies of the field and how they don't worry. Yes. God, Jesus came to give you abundant life. Yeah, no, not plans to destroy you, but plans to make you. And you have had an abundant life. Yes. And you are so blessed. So blessed.

And that's where we have to feed that part of your mind. Yes. Absolutely. Was this helpful? So helpful. It always is.