Harnessing the Power of EMDR for Healing Trauma
What is EMDR Therapy?
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a psychotherapy that enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences.
EMDR Institute, Inc.Read MoreEMDR therapy is an eight-phase treatment.
Eye movements (or other bilateral stimulation) are used during one part of the session. After the clinician has determined which memory to target first, he asks the client to hold different aspects of that event or thought in mind and to use his eyes to track the therapist’s hand as it moves back and forth across the client’s field of vision.
As this happens, for reasons believed by a Harvard researcher to be connected with the biological mechanisms involved in Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, internal associations arise and the clients begin to process the memory and disturbing feelings.
EMDR Institute, Inc.Read MoreExploring the 8 phases of EMDR
- Phase 1: History-taking
the therapist and patient work together to identify targets for treatment. These can include past memories, current triggers, and future goals. - Phase 2: Preparing the patient
the therapist is really working to educate the patient about the mechanics of EMDR and helping in the development of strategies to deal with the stress of the trauma, including breathing techniques, imagery, or mediation,. - Phase 3: Assessing the target memory can take as little as 30 seconds, involves questions to activate the patient’s trauma memory, and bringing it into the patient’s awareness.
- Phase 4: Desensitization to help reprocess the memory and bring it to a resolution. The patient is asked to focus on the traumatic event while the bilateral stimulation takes place.
- Phase 5: Installation the therapist uses bilateral stimulation to help the patient associate and strengthen their preferred positive belief for the event until it feels completely true. “These could be beliefs like ‘I’m worthy,’ or ‘I’m safe now,’
- Phase 6: Body scan
During this phase, the therapist asks the patient to scan themselves from head to toe to see if any negative sensations arise, and if it does, the therapist will continue to offer bilateral stimulation until any remaining negative sensations have been cleared out of the body. - Phase 7: Closure
This phase is focused on closing the session down and helping the patient return to a state of calm in the present, and ensuring that the patient is in a good place to head back out into the world, Silva said. - Phase 8: Evaluating treatment results
Each subsequent session opens with a time for the therapist and patient to discuss the patient’s current level of distress around the traumatic memory and how their symptoms are changing. If the patient reports a reduction in distress, they can move on to the next target memory.
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What conditions and problems does EMDR treat?
The most widespread use of EMDR is for treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Mental healthcare providers also use it in the treatment of the following conditions:
*** Anxiety disorders
*** Depression disorders
*** Dissociative disorders
*** Eating disorders
*** Obsessive-compulsive disorders
*** Personality disorders
*** Trauma disorders
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What does EMDR therapy involve?
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.
Sessions usually last between an hour and 90 minutes. The eight phases are:
*** Patient history and information gathering
*** Preparation and education
*** Assessment
*** Desensitization and reprocessing
*** Installation
*** Body scan
*** Closure and stabilization
*** Reevaluation and continuing care
What are the advantages and disadvantages of EMDR?
EMDR has several advantages:
*** Studies have found that EMDR is effective.
*** typically start seeing results much sooner than with other forms of therapy.
*** usually involves only writing down any thoughts or ideas you want to bring up at your next session (if and when those thoughts happen).
*** focuses on processing and moving past your trauma. Other methods involve having you describe and even relive negative events.
EMDR has several disadvantages:
*** If you have a mental health condition because of an inherited condition, an injury or other physical effect on your brain, EMDR is unlikely to help.
*** Experts still can't fully explain why it works, despite the evidence that it works. It's a new method.
*** More research is necessary before experts know if EMDR is a long-term solution or if people need additional therapy years or decades later.