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What is EMDR? EMDR is the acronym for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. If renamed, it could be called Reprocessing. EMDR is a way of resolving troublesome experiences which occurred in the past and making them less troublesome in the present. EMDR can also help prepare for future situations. A complex brain process stores your experiences in your memory, and sometimes, under stress the experiences are stored with their distressing features. EMDR can help remove the distress from the memories so that they become just part of your past. In addition to resolving past and recent traumas, EMDR can help strengthen and clarify positive elements in your life. EMDR is recommended by several organizations as one of the treatments to resolve trauma. Some are the Department of Defense, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, and several organizations in other countries. EMDR is not suitable for everyone, so I need two to three visits to take your history and assess the ability of EMDR to be of benefit to you. The following example is a case study: A young woman who wanted to become a published author lost
the ability to sit, concentrate, and write the stories she outlined.
Although she had been well trained in college and had no difficulty
producing the stories for her classes, she could not do it now that she was
on her own. The image she carried in her head was one of her teacher
criticizing her to the point of bringing her to tears. The voice she
heard with this image was shrill, and she was cringing at its sound and the
awful statements her teacher uttered. With EMDR she was able to work
through the negative thought of "I have no ability. I'll never
succeed," to the positive statement of "I can do it. I can write a
winner." The image became dim in her mind's eye, and she could not see
the teacher's mouth move. Although she knew that the teacher spoke,
she heard no words and she couldn't remember the words unless she worked
hard to recall them. She no longer experienced the feelings of fear,
anxiety, and doubt when she thought of her college teacher.
During the next week, she was able to write several chapters of her book. |
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