EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy, is a relatively new technique used to address trauma. While the first clinical trial involving EMDR was conducted in 1989, there have since been dozens of studies showing that EMDR is extremely effective and may even help a person heal faster than other therapy methods.
EMDR involves moving your eyes in a specific way while processing traumatic memories. It focuses on changing the emotions, thoughts, and behaviors that stem from a traumatic experience, allowing your brain to resume its natural healing process.
Dr. Francine Shapiro developed EMDR based on the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model. The AIP model is a theory that explains how typical and traumatic memories are stored differently in the brain. Typically, memories are stored smoothly and networked to connect to other memories. With traumatic memories, that networking does not happen correctly. During traumatic events, the brain can shut down, leading to a disconnect between feelings and what the brain has stored in memory. Because of this, the brain may have trouble processing the traumatic event, which can make healing a challenge. Specifically, the brain may not process that the danger from the traumatic event is over, resulting in heightened emotions and pain that can feel intimidating to address.
The unhealed brain may experience triggers, which are things such as sights, smells, tastes, and sounds that can reinforce traumatic memories. Triggers can bring up the feelings of the past traumatic experience, making it feel as if you are reliving the pain all over again.
EMDR offers a way to reprocess those traumatic events and change the way you perceive them. The focused eye movements paired with specific guiding instructions allow you to access those memories in a very precise way. This reprocessing repairs the brain injury and addresses the networking error caused by the traumatic event. By doing so, triggers will no longer make you feel as if you are reliving the actual event, and the emotions associated with it will become much more manageable.
EMDR is commonly used to help treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, but it can also help with anxiety, depression, personality disorders, eating disorders, and more. It has become a very common treatment method worldwide, with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense listing it as the best way to treat veterans.
EMDR is an extremely effective way to help heal your brain from traumatic events and memories. Many people undergo EMDR therapy for several weeks to a few months, and while it may seem difficult to persevere toward the goal of healing, EMDR has helped many people recover from years of trauma.
Written by Karsen Mumm