Saturday 15 August 2026

Switched On and Stressed Out: What the New Screen Time Guidance Means for Your Family — and How EMDR Can Help

By Patricia Lyon, UKCP Registered Psychotherapist and EMDR Therapist, Glasgow

UK Government screen time guidance, published 27 March 2026:

Under 2s: avoid screen time altogether, except shared video calls with family

Ages 2–5: no more than 1 hour per day, less if possible

Under 5s specifically: avoid fast-paced, social-media-style content

Source: UK Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care, Best Start in Life, 27 March 2026

If you've ever found yourself locked in a daily battle over screens — phones at mealtimes, teenagers disappearing into their devices, toddlers melting down when the tablet gets switched off — you are very far from alone.

The UK government has just stepped in with its first-ever official guidance on screen time for young children. Published in late March 2026, it makes clear what many parents have already sensed: too much solo screen time, too early, is getting in the way of the things children need most — sleep, play, conversation and connection.

For older children and teenagers, the picture is just as concerning. Scotland's own Online Safety Taskforce has flagged the way social media algorithms are specifically designed to be addictive, engineered to keep young people scrolling for as long as possible, regardless of the emotional cost.

What doesn't always get talked about is what all of this does to the nervous system — of both the young people living it, and the parents trying to manage it.

The Stress Behind the Screen

Scroll-based social media isn't just distracting. For many teenagers, it creates a constant low-level state of threat — the fear of missing out, the anxiety of not being liked, the hypervigilance of monitoring how a post is performing. The body doesn't distinguish between a physical danger and a social one. It responds in the same way: elevated cortisol, a racing heart, a nervous system that never fully switches off.

Over time, this chronic low-grade stress can start to look like anxiety, sleep problems, irritability, difficulty concentrating, or a persistent sense of not being good enough. It can also make existing trauma harder to manage, because a nervous system that is already overloaded has far less capacity to process difficult experiences.

Teenagers who are most vulnerable to the effects of social media stress are often the ones already carrying something difficult — unresolved trauma, low self-worth, loneliness, or fear of rejection. These are also, not coincidentally, the young people who often find it hardest to put the phone down.

What About Parents?

It's worth naming something that often gets overlooked in these conversations: parenting in a screen-saturated world is genuinely stressful. The guilt about getting it wrong. The conflict at home. The worry about what your child is exposed to online. The exhaustion of being the person who has to hold the line, every single day, against platforms designed by billion-dollar companies to be as compelling as possible.

Many parents I work with carry a real sense of shame around their child's screen use, as if they should have been able to prevent it or manage it better. That shame, and the chronic stress that goes with it, is worth taking seriously too.

What Is EMDR, and How Can It Help?

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) is a structured therapy that helps the brain reprocess distressing experiences that have become "stuck" — including the accumulated stress of online life — so they stop generating the same level of anxiety or emotional charge.

EMDR is probably best known as a treatment for trauma, but its applications are broader than that. For teenagers, that might mean processing the accumulated hurt of online humiliation, the anxiety that builds up around social comparison, or the traumatic impact of cyberbullying. EMDR can help the nervous system release the emotional charge around these experiences and shift the negative beliefs they've created — beliefs like I'm not enough, nobody really likes me, or the world isn't safe.

For parents, EMDR can be equally valuable — helping to process the anxiety, guilt or helplessness that has built up around their child's wellbeing, or addressing earlier experiences that make current stressors feel particularly overwhelming.

EMDR May Be Helpful When:

A teenager's anxiety or low mood seems connected to their online life

A young person has experienced cyberbullying or online harassment

Social comparison and "not being enough" feels like a persistent theme

Screen use feels compulsive, driven by anxiety rather than genuine enjoyment

A parent is carrying significant stress, guilt or helplessness around their child's digital world

Family conflict around screens is creating ongoing relational stress

A Practical Step You Can Take Right Now

If the new guidance has prompted you to make changes at home, that's a good start. But sometimes the stress that's already built up — in your teenager, in yourself, in the family system — needs more than a screen-free mealtime to shift.

That's where therapy can help. My practice works with teenagers, adults and parents navigating exactly these kinds of challenges. I offer EMDR for trauma, anxiety, and the kind of chronic nervous system dysregulation that builds up when life feels relentless, online and off.

If any of this resonates, I'd welcome a conversation. There's no commitment required — just a chance to explore whether this kind of support might help you or your family.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can EMDR help teenagers with social media anxiety?

Yes. EMDR can help teenagers process the accumulated stress of social comparison, fear of missing out and online scrutiny by reducing the emotional charge attached to these experiences and shifting negative self-beliefs that build up over time.

Can EMDR help with cyberbullying trauma?

EMDR is well suited to processing distressing or traumatic online experiences, including cyberbullying, by helping the brain reprocess "stuck" memories so they no longer generate the same level of distress.

Is EMDR only for trauma?

No. While EMDR is widely used for trauma, it's also used for anxiety, chronic stress and nervous system dysregulation — including the kind that builds up around family conflict over screens and technology.

What is the UK's new screen time guidance for under-5s?

Published in March 2026 by the Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care, the guidance recommends children under 2 avoid screen time except for shared video calls, and children aged 2–5 have no more than 1 hour of screen time a day, with less being preferable. It also advises avoiding fast-paced, social-media-style content for under-5s specifically.

 

 

Saturday 23 May 2026

You Don't Have to Keep Carrying It- EMDR treatment can help.

By Patricia Lyon MSc. | Psychotherapist & EMDR UK Trained Therapist ·

Trauma has a way of staying with us — not just as a memory, but as a physical weight, a body response; sudden tightening in the chest, agitation, a sense of reliving the past or a beliefs quietly lodged somewhere deep that says: I am not safe. I am not enough, I can't get over this.

Whether you experienced a single distressing event or have lived through years of accumulated difficulty, you may have noticed that simply talking about what happened doesn't always bring relief. That's not a failure of willpower or insight. It's the nature of how trauma is stored in the brain — and it's precisely where EMDR comes in.

What Is EMDR?

Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a structured, evidence-based therapy developed by psychologist Francine Shapiro in 1987 and now recognised by both the World Health Organisation and NICE as a leading treatment for trauma. It works by engaging the brain's natural capacity to process and integrate distressing experiences — drawing on the same adaptive information processing mechanisms thought to be active during sleep, when the mind consolidates and makes sense of difficult material.

In a session, while holding a troubling memory or belief in mind, you follow a series of bilateral stimulation — typically side-to-side eye movements, tactile taps, or auditory tones. This gentle, rhythmic input appears to help shift stuck memories so the brain can file them away properly: as something that happened in the past, rather than something still happening now.

"The goal isn't to forget — it's to remember without being overwhelmed."

Who Can EMDR Help?

EMDR is most widely known for treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and the research evidence here is substantial. But its applications reach much further. It can be deeply effective for people living with anxiety that feels disproportionate or hard to explain — often because that anxiety has roots in earlier experiences that were never fully processed.

It can also help with the quieter forms of chronic trauma: the kind that builds over time through difficult relationships, childhood neglect, medical experiences, or prolonged stress. These experiences may not feel dramatic enough to call "trauma," but they can leave behind deeply held negative beliefs — I am a burden. I can't trust anyone. I have to be perfect — that quietly shape your life long after the original events have passed.

What to Expect

EMDR is not about reliving distress. The process is carefully paced — you will never be asked to move faster than feels safe. We begin by building internal resources and stabilisation techniques, ensuring you have solid ground beneath you before approaching any difficult material. Many clients are surprised to find the process less overwhelming than they expected, and more transformative.

As a psychotherapist and EMDR UK Trained Therapist — having completed training that meets the standards of the EMDR Association UK, which operates under the EMDR Europe accreditation framework — I bring both clinical rigour and genuine care to every session. My aim is to help you move from a place where the past intrudes on the present, to one where you feel grounded, capable, and free.

Healing is not about erasing what happened. It's about changing your relationship to it — so that the memory loses its grip, the belief loses its power, and you begin to feel, perhaps for the first time in a long while, like yourself again.

Ready to Take the First Step?

I offer a free initial consultation to explore whether EMDR might be right for you. Sessions are available in person in Glasgow and online, and are always tailored to your pace and needs.

📞 07732 324387 ✉️ patricia.lyon@outlook.com 📍 Spiersbridge Business Park, Thornliebank, Glasgow G46 8NG 🌐 patricialyoncounselling.co.uk

Tuesday 31 March 2026

When the past won't stay in the past: How EMDR helps teenagers heal

  Adolescence is already one of the most turbulent periods of anyone's life. Add trauma to the mix, and a young person can find themselves trapped in a cycle of fear, avoidance and overwhelming emotion, one that no amount of 'just talking about it' seems to shift.

 

If that sounds familiar, whether you're a parent watching your teenager struggle or a young person who has felt stuck for longer than you can remember, this article is for you.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) therapy offers something different. It works at a neurological level, helping your brain finally process painful experiences so life can start to feel more manageable again.

What kinds of experiences can affect a teenager's mental health?

When people think about trauma in young people, they often picture dramatic, single events, a serious accident, a sudden bereavement or a violent incident. These are real and devastating and EMDR has a strong track record with exactly these situations.

But many teenagers are carrying something less visible, a wound that has built up slowly over time. Repeated difficult experiences during childhood and adolescence, such as emotional neglect, household instability or growing up around addiction or mental illness, can leave a young person with deeply held beliefs about themselves and the world.

Beliefs like: I'm not safe. I'm not good enough. I can't trust anyone.

Bullying is another common source of this kind of lasting harm. Whether it's a single severe incident or a slow, relentless drip of humiliation and exclusion, bullying can leave significant marks on a teenager's confidence, sense of safety and ability to connect with others.

These are the kinds of experiences EMDR is designed to help with.

What is EMDR and how does it work?

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing which sounds more complicated than it is.

The idea behind it is straightforward. When something overwhelming happens to us, the brain sometimes can't process it properly at the time. The memory gets 'stuck' and every time something triggers a reminder of it, the distress comes flooding back as if it's happening all over again.

EMDR uses a technique called bilateral stimulation, usually guided eye movements, gentle tapping or auditory tones to help the brain complete the processing it couldn't do before. You don't need to talk through everything in detail. Instead, you access the memory in a carefully contained way, while the bilateral stimulation helps move things through.

  Most clients describe a gradual shift like the memory losing its charge. It's still there, but it no longer runs the show.

 

EMDR is not a new or experimental approach. It is recognised by the World Health Organisation, NHS England and NICE guidelines as an evidence based treatment for trauma.

Why EMDR works so well with young people

Many teenagers struggle with traditional talking therapies, not because they don't want to feel better, but because words alone often can't reach the depth of what they're carrying.

EMDR doesn't require a young person to fully explain or articulate their experience. It works with the body and the nervous system, which is particularly valuable when trauma happened early, before language fully developed or when feelings are simply too big to put into words.

With the right adaptations like age appropriate language, careful preparation and a warm therapeutic relationship, EMDR can be genuinely transformative for teenagers who have felt stuck for a long time.

EMDR can help teenagers with:

•        Anxiety, panic attacks and persistent worry.

•        The lasting effects of bullying.

•        Childhood trauma and difficult family experiences.

•        Traumatic bereavement or loss.

•        Low self-worth and negative beliefs about themselves.

•        Social anxiety and fear of judgement.

•        Distressing memories that keep resurfacing.

A specialist service that's harder to find than you might think

It's worth knowing that relatively few therapists hold specialist training in EMDR for children and young people. EMDR is increasingly well known in adult mental health but therapists who are both fully trained in EMDR and experienced in working with teenagers remain genuinely rare.

I am one of them. My practice is based on the south side of Glasgow and I offer both in-person and online EMDR sessions for teenagers and young people. I also work with the adults and parents around them, because healing rarely happens in isolation.

If you are a parent concerned about your teenager, or a young person who has been carrying something heavy for a long time, please know that you don't need to have all the answers before reaching out. You just need to be curious about whether this kind of support might help.

Thinking about EMDR for a teenager in your life?

  The bravest and most important step is often the simplest one — just making contact to ask if this might help.

 

I offer an initial conversation to explore what you're looking for and whether we might be a good fit. There's no commitment required, just a warm, confidential space to talk things through. I'm happy to hear from parents, carers, teenagers themselves, or professionals looking to refer.

Transactional Analysis, the modality of therapy I use in my practice, was created by Eric Berne in the 1960's. It is a communication model and allows me to help you understand why you have become the person you are today and how you relate to others.

Human Beings live to relate to others. It is how we define ourselves be it by withdrawing from others and being alone, engaging with others and never being alone, or somewhere in between.

Berne's clever but simple diagrams of Ego States allows us to 'feel' the three parts of ourselves that we use to function and Karpan's Drama Triangle allows us to diagram Berne's Psychological Games, the unconscious process of inviting or being invited into a dynamic that will have a negative outcome.

These are just two of many theories Berne has gifted to us to help us understand ourselves better and allow me as a therapist to increase your awareness and therefore options in your recovery.

Berne's basic principal and belief that we are all OK and that everyone has the capacity to think and make their own decisions allows self responsibility within a caring and supporting framework of therapy.

For the most part it has been about their changing roles and how that requires a different form of communication. 'Mrs' had been a mother, wage earner and ran the house with military precision; 'Mr' had worked long hours for many years and took a back seat in the running of the household as was common in their generation. Now that the children were adults they found themselves with no family to look after or work to go to.

Both were at sea.

Looking at their communication patterns helped them understand that having a family meant that there was not much time for direct talking to each other and it usually entailed something about the kids or family or work or getting ready for the next day. The energy and adrenaline that that required from 'Mrs' was still running and to a certain extent 'Mr' deferred to her organising abilities.

Now however, Mrs, wanted Mr to be a more 'present' part in her life, rather than just be an onlooker with a part to play. Mrs felt as if he did not care but as we talking in couples therapy, both began to understand that Mr needed to be more proactive in the relationship in order for Mrs to be seen and recognised.

Mr processed his thoughts internally while Mrs talked her thoughts. A talker and a thinker can often perceive each other as a nagger and not listening respectively.

As we practised ways of helping Mr to say more of what he thought, mrs became less nagging and felt more secure because she was 'seen' and no longer had to vie for attention.

The difference is palpable. Mrs describes the feeling as at last having 'ground beneath my feet' while Mr reports that these few things don't feel hard to do and he is so pleased at what a difference they are making to his wife.

Both see the outlook for the future good and plans are afoot to move back in together.