What is EMDR?
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a type of psychological therapy that is recommended by the NHS and NICE. Its primary use is to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder but there is lots of new evidence suggesting it can be useful for treating depression and other anxiety problems like phobias.
Let’s think about PTSD to explain how it works….
When someone experiences a traumatic event (e.g. car accident, assault, difficult birth) their mind may attempt to ‘block’ this experience to protect them from the details of the event because they are just too awful to think about. Unfortunately, this can mean that the memory of this event is not processed like other day to day memories.
An unprocessed memory can feel very ‘current’ and raw even if the event happened many years ago. This can lead to experiences such as flashbacks and nightmares, feeling hypervigilant or on edge and wanting to avoid things that may remind you of the traumatic event. This can make life really difficult.
How does EMDR work?
Your brain has a natural ability to heal itself from trauma and negative events but sometimes it needs some help to do this properly and effectively. The purpose of EMDR is to use bilateral stimulation to promote connections in the brains’ memory network to help process the traumatic memories that are ‘blocked.’ Bilateral stimulation works in a similar way to REM sleep where we process events from our day. Instead of being asleep, we stimulate both sides of the brain through tapping, eye movements or sounds while you are awake. This is what helps the memory processing to happen.
What happens in EMDR Therapy?
We will spend a few sessions completing a full assessment, teaching you about EMDR and preparing you for the memory processing. Once we begin processing, we will start by asking you to bring up a picture of an event you are struggling with and begin eye movements or tapping. We will do this for short periods of time, pausing often to check in with what you are noticing. Within each ‘set’ you might notice the picture or memory changing or you may notice changes in how you feel in your body. Everyone processes differently and there are no right or wrong ways to do it. We keep going until you are significantly less distressed by those past events, or the memories no longer feel as though they have a such a strong sense of ‘nowness.’
If you would like to speak to us about EMDR therapy or other Trauma Focused work, please click the link below to get in touch and book an assessment.