EMDR

Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (revised)

I finally read this definition of EMDR from the EMDRIA website and I was very surprised to find so many typos!  My apologies!  Here is a layman's explanation of what EMDR is about:

EMDR or Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing is a great alternative treatment for people that feel "stuck."  When clients come in and say, "I know what to do to feel better but I feel too stuck to move forward," I suggest EMDR.  

In the past, clinicians would ask the client to follow the therapist's finger with their eyes.  This is an attempt to get the client's eyes to go back and forth like when you're in REM sleep; replicating the dream state that allows you to reprocess memories.  Now we have these handy "bilaterals."  These are simply little plastic pods that alternately vibrate and help the client to use both sides of their brain to reprocess these memories.  When the client closes their eyes while holding the vibrating bilaterals, I can see that their eyes are going back and forth under their eyelids!  Very cool stuff here.  :)

Before I consider using EMDR with a client, I have to make sure that they can "self soothe" during the session if needed.  EMDR can bring up all kinds of memories and emotions and if things get too intense, I need to know the client can "self regulate."  I usually teach them visualization techniques that they can practice when they feel "uneasy" in between sessions.  Once I am convinced that they can handle the emotionality that may ensue, we choose a memory that still has "charge."  We would use a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the most upsetting feeling when thinking of the memory; we would choose a memory that still has a high number rating of upsetting feelings.

There is a protocol of questions alternating between right and left brain questions.  The memory that is still giving you this angst is trapped on the right side of your brain; the EMDR will hopefully push it to the left side or intellectual side of the brain so that the client can reprocess the memory logically without all of the emotional feelings present.  Alternating between left and right brain questions begins the process of getting the client to use both sides of their brain.

Then the client holds the "bilaterals" in the palms of their hands. The client simply lets their mind go from the chosen memory to wherever it leads like watching their lives in a movie or like sitting on a train watching the stations going by.  The clinician will stop the bilaterals every 30 - 60 seconds to check in; the client will give a brief synopsis ie "I'm in my childhood kitchen with my father."  Since the chosen memory is connected to many others, the next check in could be, "I'm now in my present kitchen with my spouse!"

 As the session progresses, the trained clinician can tell when the memory is being reprocessed and the client's "story" is finally being rewritten or interpreted from a more positive point of view.  At this point the therapist will endeavor to "install" or instill an empowering language and feeling to go with the originally chosen memory.

So if we are successful, you will still have the memory, but you will no longer have the negative feeling that always went along with it.  Now when you think of the memory, you will feel more empowered like, "I got this."  Et voila!  Button erased!

Again, I do apologize for the poorly edited information below.

Lisa


from EMDRIA website

EMDR therapy

EMDR is an established method of psychotherapy, which has its origins in the psycho trauma therapy. The applications of EMDR, however, reach far beyond. EMDR is based on that every person has a natural ability to process information, by means of which he can handle stressful experiences.

The central element of EMDR therapy are guided eye movements - also called bilateral stimulation: The patient or the patient follows the fingers of the therapist with his eyes, while these moves her hand alternately to right and left. The client's eye movements are comparable to the eye movements during REM sleep - the stage of sleep in which the events of the day are processed. As an alternative to the hand movements, the therapist can use sound or touch the back of the hands of the patient.

At the beginning of EMDR treatment diagnose qualified Traumatherapeutinnnen and therapists in a detailed and thorough history, the trauma and the distressing symptoms associated with it. Thus patients carefully the trauma issue can approach, creating EMDR professionals with a lot of empathy a safe and protected environment. Now the patient can be together with their handlers inside view associated with the traumatic event images and situations and they decouple from the stressful emotions. Usually derived EMDR therapist during a session more sequences of eye movements at that last one-half to one minute. Being mindful they guide the patient through the remembered and the accompanying sensations.

A EMDR session is comparable to a train: The patients go again past the event - but from a safe distance and accompanied by their therapists or therapists. Later in the session faded incriminating memory piece by piece, and the symptoms of the trauma are resolved. Patients learn to deal with the old traumatic memories and thoughts and to develop a new, more appropriate perspective on what is happening.