About EMDR

What Is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy?

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is a globally recognized and effective psychotherapy approach that helps individuals heal from the emotional distress caused by traumatic memories and disturbing life experiences. This therapy is particularly beneficial for addressing:

  • Disturbing Memories
  • Complicated Grief
  • Anxiety and Stress Reduction
  • Panic Attacks
  • Phobias
  • Performance Anxiety
  • Self-Esteem Issues
  • Chronic Pain or Illness
  • Personality Disorders
  • Dissociative Disorders
  • Body Dysmorphic Disorders
  • Sexual, Physical, and/or Emotional Abuse

How Can it Help You?

Unlike traditional talk therapy or medication, EMDR therapy involves creating a "learning state" where the client can focus on a troubling emotion or memory while experiencing bilateral stimulation. This stimulation typically involves moving the eyes back and forth rapidly, similar to the rapid eye movement (REM) that occurs during dreaming, but can also include tapping or auditory tones.

This bilateral stimulation helps to reduce the intensity and emotional charge of the memories, accelerating the healing process. When painful memories are avoided, they retain their power. EMDR therapy allows you to confront these memories without experiencing a strong psychological response, enabling you to redefine your past and move forward with confidence and optimism.

EMDR Treatment Process

EMDR treatment begins with a thorough review of the client's history, including issues, memories, behaviors, and relationships, to develop a tailored treatment plan. The therapy then proceeds through a series of eight steps, preparing the client to address their issues and process them until positive behaviors are established.

EMDR therapy focuses on three major areas

  1. Past Memories: Addressing unresolved issues from the past.
  2. Present Disturbances: Reprocessing current problems caused by past traumas.
  3. Future Actions: Developing strategies for handling future situations effectively.

The therapist and client work together to resolve past issues that are affecting the present, ensuring that these disturbances no longer pose a problem in the future.

Here’s how EMDR works

  1. Assessment and Preparation: The therapist and client work together to identify specific traumatic memories and the associated negative beliefs. The therapist also ensures the client has coping strategies in place to manage any distress that might arise during treatment.
  2. Desensitization: The core of EMDR involves the client recalling a traumatic memory while simultaneously focusing on an external stimulus, typically the therapist’s fingers moving back and forth, sounds, or tapping. This bilateral stimulation (BLS) is believed to help the brain reprocess the traumatic memory, reducing its emotional charge.
  3. Reprocessing: As the memory is reprocessed, new, more adaptive associations are made. The distress associated with the memory decreases, and the client begins to adopt more positive beliefs about themselves and the event.
  4. Installation: Positive beliefs are reinforced. For example, a client who felt helpless during a traumatic event may come to believe, "I am strong and in control."
  5. Body Scan: The therapist asks the client to think about the traumatic memory and notice any residual physical tension or discomfort, ensuring that the trauma has been fully processed.
  6. Closure and Reevaluation: Each session concludes with a return to a state of equilibrium, and subsequent sessions begin with a review to ensure that the positive changes are lasting and to address any new issues that may have surfaced.

EMDR is considered effective for various issues, including PTSD, anxiety, depression, and phobias. It helps clients process and integrate traumatic memories, allowing them to move forward without the same level of emotional disturbance.

The Benefits of EMDR Therapy

The insights and healing gained from EMDR therapy come from your own improved emotional and mental processes. You'll finish EMDR treatment feeling empowered by the experiences that once made you feel like a victim. Your wounds will transform, not just heal, all without the lengthy duration often required by traditional talk therapies.

While the primary goal of EMDR treatment is to help you cope with and overcome past traumas and present challenges, it also equips you with specific skills, attitudes, and behaviors to handle future situations independently.

So, with all this in mind, EMDR therapy offers a powerful and efficient path to healing and personal growth.

Is EMDR Treatment Right for You?

While some mental health professionals debate the mechanics of how EMDR works and its effectiveness, EMDR has emerged as one of the most thoroughly researched, safe, and efficient psychotherapy treatments for trauma.

EMDR therapy follows a specific, multi-step treatment plan, but each person's experience is unique, reflecting our individuality and inner healing processes. Although EMDR is often more efficient and effective than other therapies, it typically requires multiple sessions to progress through each treatment phase.

Many clients notice significant improvements within just 8-10 sessions, though the exact duration may vary.

Ultimately, the decision to pursue EMDR treatment is a personal one. However, considering its global recognition and success in helping individuals heal from trauma, as well as manage anxiety, stress, depression, low self-esteem, and other issues, EMDR is certainly a therapeutic option worth serious consideration.