Is EMDR right for me?
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What is EMDR Helpful For?
EMDR can also be effective in helping:
✔️PTSD (Simple and Complex Trauma)
✔️Anxiety
✔️Panic Attacks
✔️Depression
✔️Complicated Grief
EMDR: Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing
Welcome to the world of EMDR—Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing! Think of it as a super-charged brain workout, designed to help you process and overcome past trauma. It is a multistep process which helps process traumatic memories, much akin to exposure therapy.
With EMDR, a therapist will use guided eye movements (or other forms of stimulation) to unlock and rewire those stuck memories and negative beliefs. It’s like clearing out the cobwebs in your mind, making space for healing and positive growth. This can be a more emotionally charged experience, so it’s for those clients wanting to address trauma head-on!
Process of EMDR
EMDR therapy is an 8-step process:
EMDR helps clients process and integrate traumatic experiences for lasting healing.
This is done by using guided eye movements (or taps) and bilateral stimulation to assist the brain in dislodging traumatic stimuli stuck in the brain’s processing systems, allowing them to be integrated.
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The therapist gathers information about the client's history and identifies potential targets for treatment, such as past traumatic events, current triggers, and future goals.
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The therapist educates the client about EMDR and teaches stress-reduction techniques to help manage emotional disturbances that may arise during therapy.
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The therapist identifies the specific memories that will be targeted and assesses the client's current emotional response to these memories.
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The client focuses on the traumatic memory while the therapist uses bilateral stimulation (e.g., eye movements, taps, or tones) to help process the memory. This continues until the client's distress is reduced.
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The therapist helps the client strengthen positive beliefs related to the traumatic memory until they feel fully true.
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The client is asked to scan their body for any residual negative sensations related to the memory. If any are found, the therapist continues bilateral stimulation until they are cleared.
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The session ends with techniques to ensure the client feels stable and calm. This may include grounding exercises or a brief discussion of the session's content.
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In subsequent sessions, the therapist and client review the progress made and assess whether any new memories need to be targeted.
FAQs
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Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).
When a disturbing event occurs, it can get locked in the brain with the original picture, sounds, thoughts, feelings, and body sensations.
EMDR procedures seem to stimulate the information and allow the brain to reprocess the experience. Studies postulate that this may be what is happening in REM or dream sleep.
The bilateral stimulation, or “BLS” (eye movements, tones, tapping, and other forms of BLS) along with the Dual Attention Stimulus, or “DAS,“ help reprocess the memory and other associated experiences.
EMDR utilizes the “Adaptive Information Processing" (AIP) model, which assumes that memory networks reflect the basis of both pathology and health. Because what is “useful" in trauma is often maladaptive later in life and relationships, the information processing system moves unprocessed/incorrectly processed disturbances to an adaptive resolution. The AIP model assumes the following:
Our brains have a natural plasticity and are naturally bent toward self-healing.
Reflects the concept of the "past is in the present” or interpreting the present through the “lens of the past.”
Ergo, it is your own brain that will be doing the healing, so you’ll be the one in control. EMDR can be emotionally taxing, a factor which should be considered with informed consent.
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Clients are asked to recall distressing images while engaging in one of three forms of bilateral (left side – right side) sensory input. The input may involve moving the eyes side to side, hearing a soft tone in one ear and then the other through headphones, or feeling a gentle tap in one hand and then the other.
The research has not been able to identify one specific reason why EMDR seems to be effective but it appears to help the brain finish processing traumatic material that has been stuck in time. Common client feedback is that they are no longer as significantly bothered by their traumatic memories or other triggers.
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Obviously, treatment’s effectiveness depends on the client’s readiness for the protocol. Studies have shown that EMDR can be very effective. For example, one study found that up to 90% of single-trauma victims no longer had PTSD after just three 90-minute sessions. Another study showed that 77% of combat veterans were free of PTSD after 12 sessions.
Shapiro, F. (1989). Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy: Basic principles, protocols, and procedures. Guilford Press.
van der Kolk, B. A., Spinazzola, J., Blaustein, M. E., Hopper, J. W., Hopper, E. K., Korn, D. L., & Simpson, W. B. (2007). A randomized clinical trial of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), fluoxetine, and pill placebo in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder: Treatment effects and long-term maintenance. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 68(1), 37-46.
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It’s important to note that EMDR will not:
Address or change fears that are rationale and warranted.
It will not alter cognitions that in reality are true.
EMDR typically will not be effective with the following concerns:
Mental health conditions not related to trauma
EMDR is only effective for conditions related to traumatic experiences. It is unlikely to help with mental health conditions caused by an injury, inherited conditions, or other physical effects on the brain.
Severe psychiatric conditions
EMDR may not be suitable for people with severe psychiatric conditions like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, or dissociative disorders which require specialized treatment.
Substance abuse issues
EMDR is not recommended for people who are currently struggling with substance abuse.
Limited emotional regulation
EMDR may not be appropriate for people who have difficulty managing intense emotions or dissociate frequently.
Recent traumatic experiences
EMDR may not be advisable for people who have experienced recent traumatic events.
Severe depression
EMDR might not be the right choice for people who are dealing with severe depression, especially if they are having strong suicidal thoughts.