Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR)

EMDR is a safe and evidence-based intervention that works with the concept that our minds (like our bodies) have an innate drive towards healing and integration.

As an example, if you fall and scrape your knee, your body works quickly to close the wound.  But if a foreign object is embedded in the skin, or if repeated injury irritates that wound, it causes pain, infection and remains unhealed.  Once the block is removed and the area cleaned and treated, healing resumes in the physical body.  

Techniques such as EMDR therapy demonstrate that the mind can heal from psychological trauma much as the body recovers from physical trauma. 

Sometimes a traumatic experience is so big or unexpected, it acts like a metaphorical foreign object stuck in the system, blocking the natural healing process from completing.

EMDR helps to remove that object and facilitates the natural healing process.

In an EMDR session, the client is provided tools to create safety and manage emotional overwhelm.

When this foundation is strong enough, the client is then asked to focus briefly on the trauma memory while simultaneously experiencing bilateral stimulation (typically eye movements or tapping on arms or legs) which seems to access several regions of brain functioning at once.

The reorganizing of memories in this way tends to lead to a reduction in the overwhelm associated with distressing memories. This psychological reboot allows for these experiences to be understood in a fuller, more adaptive and healthier way.

EMDR can be used for:

  • developing wise, safe, and protective internal resources

  • managing present-day stressors more effectively

  • resolving past traumas

  • phobias such as fear of flying, driving, medical procedures, or other single event situations

  • peak performance enhancement with competitive athletic or creative pursuits

  • future rehearsal to help prepare for and build resilience to increase the likelihood that you can get more of what you want in life moving forward

References

Maxfield, L. (2019). A clinician’s guide to the efficacy of EMDR therapy. Journal of EMDR Practice and Research [Editorial], 13(4), 239-246. Open access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1891/1933-3196.13.4.239

Shapiro, F., & Forrest, M. S. (2016). EMDR: The breakthrough therapy for overcoming anxiety, stress, and trauma. Hachette UK

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.

EMDRIA.org