EMDR: Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing
Introduction
In 1987, while walking in a park, Dr. Francine Shapiro made a chance observation. She noticed that the intensity of her disturbing thoughts and feelings reduced after her eyes had been moving rapidly back and forth.
She decided to research this for her doctoral thesis and found a way to use rapid eye movements in a special psychotherapy protocol, which was very successful in relieving chronic distress in victims of trauma.
By 1989, Shapiro had developed a totally new kind of psychotherapy: EMDR therapy.
What is EMDR?
EMDR is now the most researched treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and is used to treat troubling symptoms, such as anxiety, guilt, anger, depression, panic, sleep disturbance, and flashbacks that are the result of traumatic experiences.
Not only has EMDR therapy been proven effective in reducing the chronic symptoms which follow trauma, the therapy benefits appear to be permanent.
EMDR incorporates elements from many different treatment approaches and has been successfully used to treat other problems including:
• Anxiety
• Sexual abuse
• Depression
• Panic attacks
• Phobias
• Dissociative disorders
• Addictions
• Performance anxiety
• Complicated grief
What does EMDR stand for?
Eye Movement. Much has been learned about this therapy since it was originally named for eye movements.
It seems that the beneficial effects are facilitated by an alternating stimulation of the right and left hemispheres of the brain. Eye movements accomplish this, as do bilateral alternating taps or tones.
Desensitization refers to the removal of the emotional disturbance associated with a traumatic memory.
Reprocessing refers to the replacement of the unhealthy, negative beliefs associated with traumatic memories, with more healthy, positive beliefs.
How long does EMDR therapy take?
This depends on several factors including the nature of the problem being treated, the client’s history, and the client’s ability to tolerate levels of disturbance. In some cases, one EMDR treatment session is enough but usually it takes at least several sessions.
When EMDR therapy is used appropriately, it can significantly shorten the overall length of time in therapy
What is an EMDR session like?
First, client and therapist work together to collect basic information about the traumatic experience. The most disturbing part of the incident is identified along with negative and positive beliefs connected to the trauma.
The client is then asked to identify emotions and bodily sensations associated with the trauma and the therapist guides the client through ‘sets’ of eye movements or bilateral tapping or tones.
During each ‘set’ the therapist asks the client to notice any changes that occur in mind and body, without making a conscious effort to control them.
These changes can be positive or negative. This continues until the memory becomes less and less disturbing and the positive belief feels stronger. The memory is completely processed when the image no longer brings up disturbing emotions or feelings and the positive belief feels totally true.
How does EMDR work?
It is known that the brain has a natural mechanism for processing disturbing events, but when a traumatic experience is overwhelming it seems that the brain cannot process it in the usual way.
That is why severely traumatised people often find themselves stuck in disturbing memories long after the traumatic event. Research suggests that an important part of natural trauma processing happens during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, which provides alternating stimulation of the right and left hemispheres of the brain.
This may help explain why EMDR therapy seems to jump-start the brain’s natural healing ability, allowing the traumatic memory to become less and less disturbing.
Books about EMDR
EMDR: The Breakthrough Therapy for Overcoming Anxiety Stress & Trauma by Francine Shapiro & Margo Silk Forrest
Transforming Trauma: EMDR by Dr. Laurel Parnell