EMDR
Your healing journey starts with one gentle step
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy, commonly referred to as EMDR, is a therapeutic approach in mental health. EMDR treats mental health conditions that happen because of memories from traumatic events in your past. It’s best known for its role in treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but its use is expanding to include treatment of many other conditions.
EMDR’s goal is to help you heal from trauma or other distressing life experiences. Compared to other therapy methods, EMDR is relatively new. The first clinical trial investigating EMDR was in 1989. Dozens of clinical trials since EMDR’s development have shown that this technique is effective and can help a person more quickly than many other methods.
How does EMDR work?
Unlike traditional talk therapy, EMDR therapy doesn’t require talking in detail about a distressing issue. EMDR instead focuses on changing the emotions, thoughts, or behaviors that result from a distressing experience (trauma). This allows your brain to resume a natural healing process.
EMDR relies on the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model, a theory about how your brain stores memories. This theory, developed by Francine Shapiro, PhD, who also developed EMDR, recognizes that your brain stores normal and traumatic memories differently.
During normal events, your brain stores memories smoothly. It also networks them, so they connect to other things you remember. During disturbing or upsetting events, networking doesn’t happen correctly. The brain can go “offline,” and there’s a disconnect between what you experience (feel, hear, see) and what your brain stores in memory through language.
When you undergo EMDR, you access memories of a trauma event in very specific ways. Combined with eye movements and guided instructions, accessing those memories helps you reprocess what you remember from the negative event.
That reprocessing helps “repair” the mental injury from that memory. Remembering what happened to you will no longer feel like reliving it, and the related feelings will be much more manageable.
The 8 Phases of EMDR
EMDR therapy consists of eight phases. These phases occur over multiple sessions, with one session sometimes using parts of several phases. An example of this would be how phases 1 and 2 typically happen only in early sessions, while phases 3 through 8 are part of multiple sessions later.
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This part of the process involves your therapist gathering information about you and your past. This helps them determine if EMDR is likely to help you. It also includes asking about upsetting or disturbing events and memories that you want your therapy to focus on, as well as your goals for this therapy.
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During this phase, your therapist will talk to you about what will happen during EMDR sessions and what you can expect. They’ll also talk to you about things to focus on to help you feel more stable and safe during sessions. They’ll provide you with tools to help you manage your emotions.
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This part of the process is where your therapist helps you identify themes and specific memories that you may want to work on during reprocessing. They’ll help you identify both negative beliefs about how the trauma has made you feel, as well as positive beliefs that you would like to believe about yourself going forward.
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During this phase, your therapist activates your memory by helping you identify one or more specific negative images, thoughts, feelings, and body sensations. Throughout the reprocessing, they’ll help you notice how you feel and any new thoughts or insights you have about what you’re experiencing.
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During this phase, your therapist will have you focus on the positive belief you want to build in as you process a memory. This positive belief can be what you said in phase 3 or something new you think of during phase 4.
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Your therapist will have you focus on how you feel in your body, especially any of the symptoms you feel when you think about or experience the negative memory. This phase helps identify your progress through EMDR therapy overall. As you go through sessions, your symptoms should decrease until you don’t have any (or as close to none as possible). Once your symptoms are gone, your reprocessing is complete.
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This phase forms a bridge between later sessions. During this phase, your therapist will talk to you about what you should expect between sessions. They’ll also talk to you about how to stabilize yourself, especially if you have negative thoughts or feelings during the time between sessions. They won’t end a session until you feel calmer and safe. They might also ask you to write down any new thoughts you have about the disturbing event(s), so you can bring them up at your next session.
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The final phase of EMDR therapy involves your therapist going over your progress and how you’re doing now. This can help determine if you need additional sessions or how to adjust your goals and expectations for your therapy. They’ll also help you explore what you might experience in the future — how you would like to handle things at that time, knowing what you know now, about yourself and your past trauma.
Those experiencing:
PTSD
Anxiety disorders
Depression disorders
Dissociative disorders
Eating disorders
Obsessive-Compulsive disorders
Personality disorders
Who can benefit from EMDR?
Find your path to healing.
If you’re interested in EMDR reach out to Brigette today!