EMDR Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing
The mind can often heal itself naturally, in the same way as the body does. Much of this natural coping mechanism occurs during sleep, particularly during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Most of the time, your body routinely manages new information and experiences without you being aware of it. However, when something out of the ordinary occurs and you are traumatized by an overwhelming event (i.e. a car accident) or by being repeatedly subjected to distress (i.e. childhood neglect), your natural coping mechanism can become overloaded. This overloading can result in disturbing experiences remaining frozen in your brain in a “raw” and emotional form; rather than in a verbal “story” mode.
This limbic system maintains traumatic memories in an isolated memory network that is associated with emotions and physical sensations, which are disconnected from the brain’s cortex where we use language to store memories. The limbic system’s traumatic memories can be continually triggered when you experience events similar to the difficult experiences you have been through. Often the memory itself is long forgotten, but the painful feelings such as anxiety, panic, anger, or despair are continually trigged in the present. Your ability to live in the present and learn from new experiences can therefore become inhibited.
What an EMDR Session Looks Like
EMDR helps create the connections between your brain’s memory networks, enabling your brain to process the traumatic memory in a very natural way. EMDR utilizes the natural healing ability of your body. After a thorough assessment and development of a treatment plan, you will be asked specific questions about a particular disturbing memory. Eye movements, similar to those during REM sleep, will be recreated simply by asking you to watch the therapist’s finger moving backwards and forwards across your visual field.
Sometimes, a bar of moving lights or headphones is used instead.
The eye movements will last for a short while and then stop. You will then be asked to report back on the experiences you have had during each of these sets of eye movements. Experiences during a session may include changes in thoughts, images and feelings. With repeated sets of eye movements, the memory tends to change in such a way that it loses its painful intensity and simply becomes a neutral memory of an event in the past.
What can EMDR be used for?
EMDR has been successfully used to treat: PTSD, anxiety and panic attacks, depression, anger, phobias, sleep problems, grief and loss, addictions, pain (including phantom limb pain), feelings of worthlessness/low self-esteem, and more.
