EMDR - EYE MOVEMENT DESENSITIZATION AND REPROCESSING

Short EMDR animation video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKrfH43srg8

EMDR TedTalk- https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=lOkSm90f2Do

Public awareness EMDR video: https://vimeo.com/179500047

Often when something traumatic happens, it seems to get locked in the brain with the original picture, sounds, thoughts, feelings and so on. Since the experience is locked there, it continues to be triggered whenever a reminder comes up. It can be the basis for a lot of discomfort and sometimes a lot of negative emotions, such as fear, helplessness that we can’t seem to control. These are really the emotions connected with the old experience that are being triggered.

The eye movement that we use in EMDR seem to unlock the system and allow your brain to process the experience. That maybe what is happening in our REM or rapid eye movement sleep when our most intense dreaming takes place: they eye movements appear to be involved during the processing of unconscious material. The important thing to remember is that it is your own brain that will be doing the healing and that you are the one in control.

Disturbing events can be stored on the brain in an isolated memory network. This prevents learning from taking place. The old material just gets triggered over and over again. In another part of your brain, in a separate network, is most of the information you need to resolve it. It’s just prevented from linking up to the old stuff. Once we start process with EMDR, the two networks can link up. New information can come into mind and resolve the old problems.

Although unpleasant pictures, sensations or emotions may come up as we do the eye movements, you can stop the process whenever you want. We can stop and you can rest. It is best to allow the eye movements to continue as long as possible to get us through processing more quickly. Remember when we are processing, it is old stuff- it may feel real, but it is old memories locked in the brain. The idea is to let the brain become unlocked and let the information process through.

EMDR consists of 8 phases:

Phase 1: Client history

Phase 2: Preparation

Phase 3: Assessment

Phase 4: Desensitization

Phase 5: Instillation

Phase 6: Body Scan

Phase 7: Closure

Phase 8: Future

EMDR is supported as an evidence based therapeutic technique by the World Health Organization and American Psychiatric Association. EMDR is advertised to be a fast-therapeutic technique. Please know that EMDR can work fast for one-time trauma, and treatment can be done in 8-10 sessions. For complex, accumulated, childhood and/or ongoing trauma, it will take more than 10 sessions to reduce distress. If you choose to try EMDR, we will use our first 2-3, 50 minutes, sessions to discuss and plan if EMDR may be right for you. If you decide to proceed with EMDR, the phases 4-8 requires 90 minutes of processing.

EMDR annotated list of research: http://www.emdr.com/research-overview/

History of EMDR: http://www.emdr.com/history-of-emdr/