EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing. It is a powerful evidence-based therapy that has proven very effective at helping people with severe emotional distress is EMDR. It has been used for well over 20 years across the world.
What is EMDR?
It is a powerful therapy to help people let go of strong emotional pain. The therapy uses the brain’s own natural healing process to kick start the resolution of severe distress that has been “locked” in the brain in a way that has prevented the brain from healing itself.
Often disturbing events happen that stay with us in our memories and we feel distressed when we think about them.
If the brain cannot process traumatic or stressful experiences then the memory becomes frozen in “Trauma time”, and triggering events or memories may feel like for the effected individual as they are going through the experience again.
Such memories and experiences have a lasting negative effect that interferes with the way we view the world and how we relate to other people and environments.
Even though these negative emotions, memories or beliefs are “locked away,” they can still affect us greatly and are often triggered by experiences such as sight, smell, touch, taste, or hearing.
EMDR has a positive effect on how the brain processes information. Following EMDR treatment people no longer relive the trauma or feel disturbed when they think about it. Flashbacks and nightmares cease. They still recall what has occurred, but it is not as distressing to them.
How does EMDR work?
By bilateral stimulation of the brain, that is alternately stimulating the left and right hemispheres of the brain, unlocking and healing of severe emotional distress is triggered.
This bilateral stimulation can occur through eye movement stimulation, through audio sounds, or through tappers held in each hand.
This type of stimulation resembles REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. We already know that it is while we sleep that the brain naturally sorts out our experiences from the day, discarding useless information and transferring memories appropriately.
Memory targets, and the emotions and self beliefs connected with that memory (experience) are identified with the client. The client is then focused on the identified targets when paired with the bilateral stimulation, the negative feelings, beliefs or experience become desensitized, and less distressed.
The feelings, beliefs and/or experience is then re-processed, and new meaning is attached to the experience or triggers.
As the brain arrives at new conclusions, the original trauma no longer contains the negative emotional charge originally associated with it. The triggers are now neutral, the interpretation of experiences is now intentional, and the self-beliefs now present hope instead of powerlessness.
How long does EMDR take?
One or more sessions are required for the therapist to understand the nature of the problem and to decide whether EMDR is the appropriate treatment. The length of treatment depends upon each case, but usually single trauma events take no more than 2-7 sessions in all but really severe cases.
The type of problem, life circumstances and the number of previous experiences will determine how many treatment sessions.
A typical session lasts from 45 minutes to one hour.
Who can benefit from EMDR?
EMDR has been utilised primarily in the treatment of trauma experiences such as physical or sexual abuse, car accidents, victims of crime, natural disasters, and severe loss or grief or war veterans.
EMDR has also been used with good success for anxiety, stress, panic attacks, depression, phobias, addictions, pain relief, performance anxiety and dissociation.
Extensive research has shown EMDR as the most effective and rapid method for healing PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). EMDR has been utilised all over the world and proven effective with older adults, adults, children from 2 years of age, and adolescents.
EMDR is endorsed by:
- The World Health Organisation (2013)
- The Australian Psychological Society (2010)
- The International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (2009)
- The National Health and Medical Research Council (2007)
- UK National Guidelines for Clinical Excellence (Nice 2005)
- American Psychiatric Association (2004)
- Dutch Guidelines on Mental Health Care (2003)
- Clinical Division of the American Psychological Association (1998)
- Israel National Council for Mental Health (2002)
The evidence supports EMDR
EMDR is one of the most researched psycho-therapeutic approaches for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Since 1989 over 24 controlled clinical studies have found EMDR to effectively decrease or eliminate the symptoms of PTSD for the majority of clients and it is more efficient.
The following websites include worldwide references for current research and peer reviewed articles: