What is EMDR? 

Trauma can happen to any one of us all no matter what our background. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that EMDR is a universal approach that everyone can benefit from.

So, after seeing blank expressions from friends’ and clients’ faces when I talk about EMDR, it occurs to me that they haven’t got a clue what I’m on about.

I spend a lot of time either reading about EMDR or practicing it, so I automatically assume everyone knows about it, of course the reality is most don’t, and you might not either. So, I thought it would be a good idea to explain a little bit about this fantastic therapy (well I think it is anyway) that I’m quite excited about and which could help you.

 

First, a little experiment:

 

So where to begin? Let’s start with a little experiment. Take a moment, close your eyes, and think about a stressful situation. A note of caution though, if you can recall a past event that could be traumatising or too distressing to think about now, please don’t do this exercise.

 

Ok, take a moment and think about what happened, recall the memory while at the same time, have a sense of what you’re feeling in your body.

• What thoughts come up?
• Do they trigger anxiety or other unhealthy emotions?
• How is your body reacting right now?
• Do you feel tense or agitated, or maybe you feel scared or upset?
• Where in your body are you feeling tense?
• Does the memory replay over and over again in your mind?
• Do you feel uncomfortable thinking about this memory?

 

Ok let's  review the results. If you were able to think about the past event and you felt ok, i.e., you didn’t have any thoughts of “I don’t like that” or other negative thoughts, then it means your brain has been able to process what happened, good for you. As far as your brain is concerned, the event happened, it wasn’t a nice experience, but the end result is that it’s now just a memory. Your brain has been able to file it away and in time you will probably forget about what happened.  

 

But let’s say that whatever came to mind was quite stressful for you. Remembering what happened has now made you feel quite tense, maybe fearful, agitated, or upset. Maybe the image is still with you now and you wish you hadn’t taken part in this exercise as now it’s on your mind and you can’t stop thinking about it, if this is the case then EMDR can help you. Please read on.

 

 

What is EMDR therapy?

 

Ok, so what is this EMDR therapy that I have been talking about, and how can it help those distressing thoughts, images and physical sensations go away. I say go away which is slightly not true, a more accurate explanation is that EMDR helps the brain to process what happened to a point of resolution. It’s the emotional reaction which you originally experienced and continue to experience that is currently stuck within your nervous which is the problem, and therefore when you keep remembering what happened, you currently feel the negative emotions and physical sensations in your body.

 

It’s like a negative loop that keeps going round and round in your head, you think about the distressing event which in turn triggers the negative feelings, which maintains the cycle.

 

We need to find a solution to stop this loop from continually repeating itself. This is when EMDR can be really effective, as the focal point of this therapy is to provide your brain a way to process the memory. When this happens the end result is the memory will still be remembered initially until it starts to fade. However, your emotional reaction to the event will disappear. In fact, you probably won’t even want to think about the event anymore, not because it’s still distressing to think about, but because you just want to move on. Now are you interested, yes I thought so.

 

A good starting point is to explain the name EMDR which stands for Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing, yes, I admit this does sound a bit of a mouthful and doesn’t roll of the tongue that easily hence the abbreviation to EMDR.

 

Just to give you a bit of background, this approach was developed by a psychologist named Francine Shapiro quite by chance, while taking a walk. Francine speaks about going through a rough time in her life. While out walking immersed in her worries she noticed and became fascinated by the branches on trees moving back and forth as it was a particularly windy day. What Francine noticed was that somehow the worries that she was thinking about felt better and she felt less distressed by them. Francine being a psychologist was intrigued to understand what could have caused this and surmised that it may have been the way her eyes were tracking from right to left while watching the moving branches. So, Francine experimented with initiating what we call bilateral stimulation with her clients which basically means using a stimulus i.e., the client follows the fingers of the therapist just with their eyes as the therapist’s fingers move from left to right. What Francine noticed was that afterwards clients felt less distressed about an upsetting memory that they had been thinking about and so EMDR was born. I will add at this point that my version of Francine’s story is a rough version just to give you an overview of how this therapy came about.  If you would like to hear the story in the exact form, then google Francine Shapiro EMDR to find out more.

 

Initially EMDR was used mainly for people experiencing PTSD but because this therapy is so effective it has been expanded to be used for any distressing event or trauma that a person has experienced. Interestingly EMDR also works for anxiety, depression, addiction, phobias or just about any problem we are finding difficult to cope with.

 

How does EMDR work?

 

I find this a difficult question to answer on the best of days as there isn’t one exact theory to explain the “why”.  Like most therapies the only way to find out if a therapy is effective is by doing research and accumulating evidence which EMDR has a lot of, so I’m not going to wade into this area and try to be intellectual. I like simplicity in my life, and I like to explain things as simply as I can so that it is understandable and makes sense. Ok here goes:

 

If you watch any YouTube videos on EMDR or read about it, you will most likely see or hear about the technique performed with bilateral stimulation using the eyes. There isn’t one definite theory explaining why this works, one theory is that the eye movements are similar to Rapid Eye Movement (REM) we do while sleeping. REM is the brain’s way of processing memories, so the bilateral stimulation is thought to initiate the same response as in REM sleep, but you’re not sleeping, you are very much awake and in control of what’s happening. However just to confuse you a little, there are other effective ways of initiating the same response as bilateral eye stimulation such as alternate tapping on the knees or arms or listening to alternate audible sounds. I personally find that clients prefer alternate knee tapping to eye movements, whether this is because clients don’t like following my fingers moving from left to right or maybe tapping the client’s knees brings a personal contact of touch to the session, either way the clients get positive results which is all that matters.

 

Personally, I like the theory that whether the therapist is using bilateral eye stimulation or alternate tapping on parts of the body, means both sides of the brain are being activated at the same time while you are thinking about the distressing event. Additionally, the process of the tapping brings you into the here and now and has a relaxing effect on the body. This is the important bit, being in the here and now while remembering something stressful means you are retraining that part of your brain which initiates the stress response to calm down and become more objective to what happened or in other words you are telling your stress response there is no danger now, and “I feel safe.”

 

Yes, I absolutely agree that what happened wasn’t very nice, but you don’t have to be a victim anymore, you can stop blaming yourself for what in most situations was never your fault. Acknowledging a new perspective is liberating because it sets you free, you are no longer defined by what happened. Your life from now on will be different because you will be literally thinking and behaving differently. What’s not to like about that.

 

It's an interesting fact that the brain can’t distinguish between what is real or what is imagined.

 

That’s one of the perks of being human. That’s why we get engrossed in a movie and get convinced that what we are watching feels real because we react physically and emotionally to what is happening on the screen, i.e., laughing, crying, feeling scared. I remember someone once saying that we have the most amazing special effects department in the form of feelings, thoughts, and the ability to visualise. It can be a nice daydream or the worst-case scenario that can be activated within a blink of an eye. You are probably aware that whenever you think of a past event you can experience the same feelings and sensations as if it was happening to you right now.

 

The EMDR process convinces your brain that even though you can recall a bad memory, it’s just a bad memory and not something that is happening to you in the present moment.

 

What happens in a session?

 

Even though the positive effects of receiving EMDR can be quite rapid, often a few sessions are needed. A detailed history will be taken at the initial session, this is to gain information about you and to assess if the therapy will be appropriate for you. Recalling distressing, emotionally and challenging events will be the target/s for future sessions. Remembering difficult memories can be challenging to deal with, it’s important to be able to cope with whatever comes up, so in subsequent sessions the focus will be on developing useful resources. What do I mean by resourcing?

 

Resourcing means strengthening your capacity to cope and withstand challenging thoughts, emotions, and feelings. This is done in the form of exercises which are discussed and practised with your therapist. EMDR processing only starts when you think and feel that you are ready, you will remain in control throughout the whole process. Yes, it can be challenging at times, but you will not be alone, your therapist is with you all the way.

 

When you do feel ready to start EMDR processing, your therapist will guide you at every stage. An overview of the process involves remembering or bringing to mind an image of what happened and then the therapist will start using bilateral stimulation to help the mind process the memory.

 

Bilateral stimulation is important as it keeps you focused and present in the here and now. When you remember a stressful memory the physical feelings and emotions associated with the memory will dissipate

 

At this point I can imagine you are thinking what happens if something scary comes up, don’t worry as your therapist is fully trained for whatever may come up and that’s why preparation skills and techniques are discussed and practiced early on before you get to this stage.

 

The objective is that at a certain point in the session the original memory will have been adapted and properly processed. This means that you will probably still recall the original memory, but you no longer feel distressed by the event. Negative beliefs and associations will have been adapted to positive alternatives that will support you and bring about healing from within.

 

So how does this resonate to you? If you are interested to find out more or book a session, please get in contact.

 

 

N.B. The EMDR process can also be adapted to work through a video conference app using different methods for bilateral stimulation.