EMDR Therapy

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. EMDR was discovered by chance by Francie Shapiro in the 1980’s. On a walk Francine realized that the thoughts around a disturbing memory she had had suddenly disappeared. Fascinated by this, she started paying close attention to what she was doing.

She realized that when she brought up distressing memories her eyes started moving back and forward. By chance, she realized that her eye movement was the reason she become desensitized to her disturbing memories.

She started off with EMD (Eye Movement Desensitization) and later added the R for Reprocessing. Her further studies realized the therapy is not just about desensitizing but also reprocessing the events and feelings as a whole.

She later stated that she would have just called it “Reprocessing Therapy”, but that name stuck after so many years.

No, EMDR does not involve hypnosis. The goal of hypnosis is to have the persons attention so focused that while in a state of hypnosis, anything going on around the person is temporarily blocked out or ignored. This is not the case in EMDR, in EMDR you are aware of what is going on around you and you are not in an altered state.

EMDR was originally developed to reduce the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). EMDR has been widely researched as effective for PTSD and trauma with up to 100% effectiveness for single trauma and 77% effective for those with multiple traumas.

There is ongoing and promising research suggesting that EMDR is helpful in treating anxiety and depression.

While EMDR cannot take away the natural process of grieving, it can help soften the emotional weight of difficult memories. This makes it easier to manage intense feelings and begin to find healing and meaning after a loss.

EMDR allows for your brain to go deeper and work through more than traditional talk therapy can.

It allows for your brain to experience a more thorough healing and become “unstuck”. This is achieved by helping your brain make more connections than talk therapy.

EMDR does not mean that you won’t engage with your therapist as in ‘talk therapy’. In fact, talk therapy is used in conjunction with EMDR.

It was eventually discovered that eye movement is not the only way to allow the brain to process information.

The eye movement actually creates movement between the left and right hemisphere of the brain. This back and forward process, or bilateral movement in the brain, is believed to be what is required for processing and desensitization

This Bilateral stimulation can be achieved with the traditional eye movements, but also with touch and sound.

The therapist will either tap on a clients knees (if they are comfortable) or use EMDR pulsers that they hold in their hands.

For auditory stimulation the client wears headphones that make alternating beeps from left to right ear.

There has been major leaps in the understanding of neurobiology, the full understanding of why it works is still being researched.

At this point, the best explanation relates to the eye movement we naturally make to process information when we are sleeping.

When in a deep dream state our eyes make the same movement that is used in EMDR, This movement is called REM sleep. This eye movement creates Bilateral stimulation in the brain.

Repeated traumatic childhood experiences can often carry a emotional heaviness that follows us as we grow.

Children need to feel loved by their parents, they are sensitive to their parents perception of them and overly critical parents can leave their children questioning whether they are lovable.

We can love our parents and at times reflect back on our childhood feeling like we had unmet childhood needs or resentment for how we were treated.

On the other hand, it is common try to manage our feelings by minimizing our experience, you tell yourself that you should just be able to “get over it” by now, it was “not that bad”, or your parents are “different now”. These are common misconceptions about the serious impact that adverse childhood experiences can have on us.

Whether you are wanting to address complex trauma in general or complex trauma related to childhood events, it can feel overwhelming to think about how to address such long standing traumatic events.