Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
What is EMDR?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), as with most therapy approaches, focuses on the individual’s present concerns. The EMDR approach believes past emotionally-charged experiences are overly influencing your present emotions, sensations, and thoughts about yourself. As an example: “Do you ever feel worthless although you know you are a worthwhile person?”
EMDR processing helps you break through the emotional blocks that are keeping you from living an adaptive, emotionally healthy life. EMDR uses rapid sets of eye movements to help you update disturbing experiences, much like what occurs when we sleep. During sleep, we alternate between regular sleep and REM (rapid eye movement). This sleep pattern helps you process things that are troubling you.
EMDR replicates this sleep pattern by alternating between sets of eye movements and brief reports about what you are noticing. This alternating process helps you update your memories to a healthier present perspective.
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What does an EMDR session look like?
EMDR session planning
Overall Treatment Planning
You have come to treatment expressing concerns.
Your therapist will help you understand the dynamics of the presenting concerns and how to adaptively manage them.
An overall treatment plan will be developed that will accomplish your goals.
Within that treatment plan, EMDR, along with other therapy approaches, will be used to accomplish your treatment goals.
The EMDR session
You will be asked a set of questions to access and activate the negative experience and the desired adaptive resolution.
Sets of rapid eye movement (or other forms of bilateral stimulation) will be applied.
You will be encouraged to just “free associate” and allow the brain to work through the experience.
Sets of eye movements will be alternated with brief reports about what you are experiencing.
EMDR processing will continue until the past experience has been updated to an adaptive present perspective.
With long standing issues, this process may take multiple sessions.
Using what you’ve learned
Once the disturbing experiences have been updated, you and your therapist will work together to integrate these new insights and perspectives into your daily life.
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What’s the current EMDR research?
Here is a link to recent EMDR research.
What is different about EMDR?
EMDR focuses on the brain’s ability to constantly learn, taking past experiences, and updating them with present information.
Adaptive learning is constantly updating memory network systems.
Past emotionally-charged experiences often interfere with your updating process.
EMDR breaks through that interference and helps let go of the past and update your experiences to a healthier present perspective.
EMDR uses a set of procedures to organize your negative and positive feelings, emotions, and thoughts, and then uses bilateral stimulation, such as eye movements or alternating tapping, as the way to help you effectively work through those disturbing memories.
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Is it necessary to tell my therapist all the details about my problems in order for them to be processed?
No, it is not necessary to talk about all the details of your experiences for them to be processed.
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Will I get emotional?
Yes, you may.
Emotions and sensations may come up during processing; although, you will be prepared and your therapist will help you safely manage them. Once they are processed, they rarely come back!
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Is EMDR like hypnosis?
No, it is not.
No. During EMDR processing, you are present and fully in control.
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Is EMDR a brief treatment?
EMDR, as with all treatment approaches, will help you accomplish your treatment goals.
The length of time that it takes is dependent upon the complexity of your problems. Frequently, EMDR is only one of several treatment approaches that will be used to help you reach your treatment goals.
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Who can benefit from EMDR therapy?
EMDR therapy helps children and adults of all ages. Therapists use EMDR therapy to address a wide range of challenges:
Anxiety, panic attacks, and phobias
Chronic Illness and medical issues
Depression and bipolar disorders
Dissociative disorders
Eating disorders
Grief and loss
Pain
Performance anxiety
Personality disorders
PTSD and other trauma and stress-related issues
Sexual assault
Sleep disturbance
Substance abuse and addiction
Violence and abuse
More details at emdria.org.
What is Trauma?
Trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event like an accident, rape, or natural disaster.
Immediately after the event, shock and denial are typical. Longer-term reactions include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, strained relationships and even physical symptoms like headaches or nausea. While these feelings are normal, some people have difficulty moving on with their lives. Psychologists can help these individuals find constructive ways of managing their emotions. - www.apa.org
Early trauma can lead to guilt, anger, feelings of powerlessness, self-abuse, acting out behavior, and mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety. Post-traumatic stress disorder, which affects children and adults, can manifest in a number of ways, such as bothersome recurring thoughts about the traumatic experience, emotional numbness, sleep issues, concentration problems, and extreme physical and emotional responses to anything that triggers a memory of the trauma. For more information: www.apa.org/topics/trauma