If you’ve got been to a therapist's office in the previous couple of years, you’ve got probably heard of eye movement desensitization and processing (EMDR).
EMDR is mostly used to treat long-term and acute trauma and has also been shown to be effective. Help with some species from chronic pain.
A growing variety of studies show that EMDR might be used to effectively treat quite a lot of diseasesakin to substance abuse, specific phobias and anxieties that occur along with symptoms related to trauma. More studies are needed, but the outcomes to date are encouraging.
I’m a trauma therapist who was trained in EMDR in 2018. Since then, I actually have consistently used this approach with dozens of clients to process trauma and deeply rooted negative core beliefs.
EMDR versus traditional therapy
Desensitization and processing through eye movements was Developed in 1987 by Dr. Francine Shapiro after discovering that when she moved her eyes from her left foot to her right as she walked—in other words, when she tracked her feet with each step—she experienced fewer negative emotions related to difficult memories, each the frustrations of the day and deeper events from her past.
Conventional treatments akin to cognitive behavioral therapy or dialectical behavior therapy depend on extensive verbal processing to deal with a patient's symptoms and problems. Such therapy can last for months and even years.
Depending on the trauma, EMDR can take months or years – but on the whole It solves problems much faster and more practical. It is effective in each adults and youngsters and might be performed remotely.
EMDR has the power to work faster by targeting negative thoughts and emotions together with what is known as bilateral stimulation – that’s, the processing of emotions occurs with the assistance of eye movements, tapping, acoustic or tactile sensations.
The most typical type of bilateral stimulation involves the patient holding their head still and using their eyes to follow the therapist's finger movements forwards and backwards. Patients may wear headphones that alternately play music from ear to ear or a tone that goes forwards and backwards. Another common technique involves the patient holding a small buzzer in each hand that alternately vibrates. Sometimes therapists tap the client's hands or knees alternately.
Some practitioners compare it to consciously fascinated by what the brain is attempting to do during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, during which the eyes move forwards and backwards under closed eyelids as you dream.
How EMDR works
Researchers are still working to determine how and why EMDR is effective in helping patients heal from trauma.
A trauma is a physiological and psychological response to an event through which perceives a threat for his or her safety – or that of somebody near them – that’s so severe that it exceeds their ability to manage.
The traumatic event can result in various symptoms that affect each day lifeakin to anxiety, depression, mood swings, intrusive thoughts, hypervigilance, sleep disturbances, or changes in appetite or weight. Sometimes the person has Thoughts of self-harm or suicide.
The trauma also can with different triggers – Images, smells, sounds, places, phrases – that evoke memories of the event. This causes the person to relive the emotions or reactions they’d when the trauma originally occurred, as if it were happening all another time.
For example, someone who was attacked months earlier might smell the identical perfume that the perpetrator was wearing while walking through a crowded mall. Because the scent of the perfume triggers an irritant response, they suddenly feel like they’re reliving the attack, including physical sensations and pictures of the event.
Resolving trauma
Memories of traumatic events often remain stuck within the brain. limbic systemwhere the Fight, flight and freeze response This is just not the place where memories are presupposed to be stored. Here, the memory is triggered by various experiences in each day life – an analogous sound, smell, sight or sensation – which might make the client feel as if the trauma is repeating itself in that moment.
Targeting the traumatic memory with bilateral stimulation during EMDR allows the brain to focus on the memory and move it from the limbic system – where it can’t be effectively connected to other necessary information or memory networks – into the prefrontal cortex And other cortical brain regions where the Memories might be higher processed and supported.
EMDR therapy is a multi-stage processTogether, patient and therapist first discover the goals, i.e. the particular traumatic memories which might be to be treated throughout the processing phase.
Next, the patient is asked to associate the event with a negative thought of themselves that is said to the trauma. For example, I’d say, “And when you think about the worst thing about this event, what is your negative thought about yourself?” Often, something along the lines of “I am unlovable,” “I am worthless,” or “I am not worth protecting” comes up. The patient can be asked to discover and locate any physical sensations they might be having within the body.
The therapist then asks the client to concentrate on all three things – the particular memory of the trauma, the negative thought of themselves, and where of their body they feel it – using a form of bilateral stimulation.
EMDR in practice
Although trauma therapy is a really individual experience, research shows that 80 to 90% of patients are capable of process – that’s, resolve – a trauma. single traumatic event with only three sessions of this therapy. In a primary study from 1998, past experiences akin to post-traumatic stress disorders from combat missions were resolved in 77% of participants after 12 sessionsOther research suggests that in patients who’ve suffered chronic trauma or abuse, more treatment time might be needed to alleviate symptoms resulting from the trauma survived.
In this context, resolution signifies that the goal thought or memory has been erased and its impact needs to be greatly reduced—not that the person not has negative thoughts or emotions about it.
When a patient has experienced multiple traumas, I ask them to discover the memories that persist with them essentially the most. The therapist starts with the earliest of those memories and works up to the current, specializing in one memory at a time, and when it’s fully processed—the body isn’t any longer disturbed by fascinated by the memory—the therapist and patient move on to the following one.
One of my patients struggled with devastating childhood memories of verbal, emotional, and physical abuse by the hands of his parents. This had an enduring impact on his relationships with family and peers well into maturity. After working with EMDR, the patient was capable of process the distressing memories, gain insights about setting boundaries with others, and supply comfort and guidance to the little child he once was.
Another patient was a highschool student who was afraid to depart the home after being attacked on the way in which home from school. After the second session, concrete, visible changes were apparent. School attendance became more regular, and grades improved. “I don't understand what's happening,” said the patient. “It's like magic. I'm not so afraid anymore.”
But EMDR is just not magic. It is a novel strategy that enables the client to approach the trauma otherwise. The client can reflect on the events that affect them and interact with the therapist's support without having to verbalize every detail of their trauma.
Find EMDR specialists
If you desire to to try Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy, discover a therapist who’s trained or certified on this treatment. The EMDR International Association website has an inventory ofHowever, there are lots of other qualified therapists who usually are not members of this organization, and it’s possible you’ll wish to inquire a couple of practitioner's qualifications before starting treatment with them.
If you struggle each day with past trauma or deeply held negative beliefs about yourself, are able to confront these difficult emotions, and need to try a unique, science-based type of therapy, I might strongly recommend giving EMDR a try.
image credit : theconversation.com