What is EMDR Therapy?
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) therapy is a form of psychotherapy that is used to treat individuals who have experienced traumatic events or distressing life experiences. It was developed by a psychologist in New York, Dr. Francine Shapiro. Dr Shapiro observed that eye movements appeared to reduced distress, after her own experience during a walk in the park in 1987. Over the years research has been conducted on the effectiveness of EMDR and it has been proven effective in the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Complex Trauma, Anxiety, Grief, Depression, Phobias, OCD and a variety of other conditions. EMDR is endorsed by the WHO (World Health Organisation), Medicare, and Phoenix Australia (Australia’s National Centre for Excellence in Post-Traumatic Mental Health). The treatment involves using bilateral sensory stimulation, such as eye movements, to help patients process and reprocess traumatic memories or negative beliefs.
During EMDR therapy, the patient is asked to recall a specific traumatic event or negative belief while simultaneously focusing on a therapist-directed stimulus, such as following the therapist's hand movements or listening to sounds played through headphones. This process is thought to activate the brain's natural healing mechanisms and help the patient process the traumatic event or negative belief in a more adaptive and less distressing way.
EMDR therapy typically involves multiple sessions and can be integrated with other forms of therapy, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy. It has been found to be effective in treating conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, and other trauma-related symptoms. However, it is important to note that EMDR therapy is not suitable for everyone and should only be conducted by a trained and licensed professional.
EMDR therapy is based on a three pronged approach so you process traumatic memories from the Past, any Present day triggers and a Future prong (to desensitise you to anything that might evoke the same traumatic response) in the future.
Normally when things happen in our lives our brain naturally makes sense of them. When things are a little more challenging, we talk to our loved ones and try and make sense of it. If we still can’t make sense of it, we go to sleep and when we are in a deep state of REM sleep all the day’s memories get processed and we wake up refreshed and ready to take on the day. (1)
However, if something really bad was to happen, things that frighten us, it can be difficult to process that information because it might make us feel scared, unsafe, anxious, stressed, ashamed. When we try to avoid these thoughts and feelings, they tend to affect us at night in the form of dreams, nightmares, flashbacks or sleep disruptions. (1)
There is a part of the brain that stores adaptive information i.e positive beliefs about oneself and the world. EMDR treatment aims to reprocess maladapitively stored information (eg. trauma) so it may be rationally processed by the brain. EMDR treatment has 8 Phases.
Phases 1-3 begin with assessments to determine the suitability for EMDR, and psycho-education around EMDR therapy. Sessions then focus on resourcing (finding a calm place to visualise if therapy becomes overwhelming), breathing exercises and finding “targets”; which may be a traumatic memory, experience, a person (real or imagined), a disturbing image, negative thoughts, or unpleasant body sensations etc. These targets are processed during Phase 4.
During session in phases 4-7 your practitioner will typically ask you to recall a “target”. Your practitioner will then ask you to concentrate on the target whilst they use Bilateral Stimulation (sensory stimuli that occurs in a rhythmic left and right patterns; such as eye movements, bilateral taps, and/or tones) to help you process this “target”. Your distress level will be monitored continually throughout this process. Once your distress levels have lowered, you will be asked to pair a positive belief with your target whilst your therapist uses bilateral stimulation.
Some effects of trauma or negative thoughts may be felt physically. Your practitioner will ask you to ‘scan’ your body and for you to report if you find anything distressing, such as a tightness in chest, or sensation in your stomach, etc. At the end of the session you will debrief with your practitioner about the experience and will be supplied with a document to record anything that might come up for you prior to your next session; any thoughts, emotions or unpleasant body sensations etc.
Phase 8 is when you return for your next session for re-evaluation; your practitioner will check if the target memory is still causing you disturbance. If so your therapist will continue with applying bilateral stimulation.
Typically Phase 4-7 aka processing “targets” sessions, are 90 minutes in duration. The length of treatment will depend on your presenting issues and concerns.
Based on original material authored by Dr. Christopher Lee & Dr. Sarah Schubert.
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