EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing enables people to heal from the symptoms & emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences.
EMDR teaches your brain to process things in a new way, releasing the emotions of the trauma carried by certain memories. EMDR focuses on releasing mind and body by allowing your brain to move on from past emotional reactions. It is based on the theory that your own instinct to heal can help your mind heal itself. Much like the natural process your body uses to heal itself from a wound.
If you have seen someone sleeping or deeply meditating, you may have noticed that their eyes dart back and forth under their lids. Reprocessing memories is similar. It puts your conflicting thoughts and emotions to rest. EMDR involves a combination of learned coping and mindfulness skills, minimally recognizing the problem, recognizing where you want to go with the problem and stimulating sights, sounds or sensation (depending on what works best for you). The therapist uses bilateral (both sides of your body) via eye movement, auditory sounds, or body stimulation to help the person’s body naturally reprocess the issue so they can reach the point where they don’t experience distress while reliving a memory.
There are eight phases to EMDR, and they include revisiting the previous session at the beginning of every new one so that each session serves as a building block for recovery.
PROS OF EMDR THERAPY
There is extensive clinical research backing this method. It has been the subject of numerous studies that support its use. EMDR therapy has been proven as more effective than Prozac in trauma treatment (Van Der Kolk et al,. 2007)The American Psychiatric Association and the U.S. Department of Defense have recognized it as a form of treatment for trauma.
Separate Reactions From Stressors
Unhealthy coping can become a habitual way of dealing with a long-term stressors. For example, when confronted with a memory from the past, a person may turn to negative coping (self-harm, drinking, drugs, anger, self-destructive habits) to numb or immediate calm the pain. EMDR helps those struggling to learn to deal with the emotion of an issue rather than simply reacting to it.
Reveal Past Traumas So Healing Can Begin
Sometimes a person will block out or push aside memories of a traumatic event that contributes to their negative coping or re-living of trauma. If they don’t deal with this past trauma, they can’t move past it and begin to heal. Chronic pushing down/ away or avoidance can also cause physical pain and eventually chronic pain ailments since the body is storing it when the mind cannot. If it’s toxic to your mind, it’s toxic to your body.
Bring About Instinctual Healing
When people sleep, their bodies go about the hard work of repairing themselves. Most of the body maintenance is done when people sleep, from healing bruises to mending broken bones.
To heal the mind, we mimic the body’s method by recreating that sleeping pattern, while awake. EMDR relies on a unique reproduction of the REM sleep cycle, teaching the mind to heal while also relaxing the rest of the body.
Wide Range of Symptoms
EMDR therapy can treat a wide range of diagnoses: Depression, Anxiety, PTSD, and many more. It can also treat a wide range of automatic symptoms such as: chronic pain, panic attacks, anxiety, relationship struggles, low self-esteem, phobias, sleep disturbances, assaults, , flashbacks, re-living trauma triggers, fear, excessive worrying and anger reactions. It can also help with pre-verbal trauma (trauma experienced before words could be put to it, often stored in the body)
Quick Relief
EMDR therapy is effective — and it’s also fast. It will not be done in one or two sessions, but for many people, it can be completed in fewer sessions that other modalities such as traditional talk therapies alone. There may be a short period of emotional discomfort, but those feelings usually leave quickly. It’s so encouraging to know that the painful issues you have been dealing with can be dealt with in a matter of sessions when they have been plaguing you for years.
Minimal to No Negative Side Effects
Despite many studies, there appear to be minimal to no negative side effects shown in EMDR therapy. Built into the 8-phase protocol are safeguards to minimize negative effects by increasing your ability to cope with negative emotions.
CONS OF EMDR
There are very few negative aspects to using EMDR therapy.
The biggest obstacle tends to be allowing yourself to “go there”. At times it can feel overwhelming, but, let’s face it, you likely already feel overwhelmed anyways. What do you have to lose?
EMDR is not a do-it-yourself type of therapy. It should only be offered by a trained therapist who knows how to walk you through this type of heavy emotional lifting.
The biggest criticism of EMDR is that it hasn’t been used long enough to draw long-term conclusions about its effectiveness. The therapy was pioneered in 1989 by Francine Shapiro. Shapiro and Forrest (2016) believe more than 7 million people have been treated successfully in 130 countries since 2016 . EMDR his is still a relatively short history with few practitioners compared to other therapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy.
Researchers aren’t completely sure why it works. They have theories, of course, and they have experiential proof that it works. There are many mysteries of the brain that human science has yet to unlock, and the reason for EMDR’s effectiveness is one of them, for now. Despite being widely used, EMDR continues to be called an “alternative therapy” to traditional talk-only therapy. Despite the evidence, accessing the body does not fit the western model of mind versus body. EMDR uses both mind and body to heal.
For more information: www.emdria.org