What is EMDR Therapy?
Oftentimes whenever I’m speaking to someone about therapy and I mention that I’m an EMDR therapist, I get that “deer in headlights” type or reaction. I would ask them if they ever heard of EMDR therapy, and usually the response is “no.” Saying the words minus the acronyms can be intimidating all by itself. If you’ve never heard of EMDR therapy, no need to be concerned. You’re in good company with many of the other individuals who’ve grown a bit inquisitive about their mental health. EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing therapy. I know that sounds like a mouthful, but humor me as we delve further into what it is and its effectiveness in helping people find relief from their unresolved trauma.
EMDR therapy has been used to treat a myriad of different mental health symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, trauma, panic disorders, social anxiety, PTSD, complex PTSD, and so much more. It’s an evidenced based therapy modality, which means it’s been vetted by all of the top mental health establishments and associations. It’s been thoroughly proven and researched throughout the years, and without fail, it’s helped so many people find relief in some capacity from their unresolved trauma and overwhelming thoughts and emotions. EMDR therapy helps our mind to reduce the stress that’s associated with the traumatic memory. When someone experiences trauma, they will have one out of the four traumatic responses, which are fight, flee, freeze, and fawn (people pleasing). In that experience, the part of the brain referred to as the limbic system, contains this small almond like structure called the amygdala. The amygdala is the emotional center of our brain that communicates to our body safety and threats. The amygdala functions like a smoke detector, to warn our body that we’re either in danger or overwhelmed by a situation, person, or event. Once the traumatic event has passed, our body doesn’t have the ability to regulate itself. It’s still in survival mode, and this lack of safety response is stored in our nervous system as fragmented memories, sights, sounds, smells, and sometimes touch.
Whenever we’re reminded of our trauma or triggered, the past comes alive in the present. It’s as if there’s a disconnect with what we know logically to be true (left brain) and how we currently feel in that particular moment (right brain). EMDR therapy helps our brain to reduce the disturbance that’s linked to our traumatic memory. I would also like to mention that trauma is not always something negative that we experience. Sometimes the trauma is developmental, and is a result of the good things we didn’t get a chance to experience, such as safety, nurturing, attunement and connection. Many of us have convinced ourselves that despite missing out on these necessary emotional connections, we’ve turned out alright. But if we pay attention to the quality of our relationships then we may find that we’ve normalized some things that are dysfunctional. Trauma tends to show up in our relationships, whether that’s romantic, friendships, work related, or extended family members. So how exactly does EMDR work and what makes it different from some of the other more traditional therapy modalities out there, such as, talk therapy or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?
EMDR therapy utilizes bilateral stimulation, which helps to engage the right and left sides of the brain while processing trauma. Examples of how an EMDR therapist might engage bilateral stimulation during a session is as follows: eye movements laterally, tappers, which are electronic devices that vibrate alternately in each hand as you’re holding them, alternate audio sounds while putting on headphones, following a light bar laterally, and tapping on one’s right or left side alternately. EMDR helps the nervous system to safely metabolize the trauma that’s been stored in the body. One of the preferred things about this type of therapy is that it doesn’t require that you do a lot of talking about your traumatic experience. As you bring up the memory, you’re paying attention to certain negative beliefs, irrational thoughts, emotions, and sensations that are associated with it, and with the help of your therapist you will be able to heal from your trauma one memory at a time. EMDR therapy does require a bit of assistance from you as the client. EMDR engages your mind’s adaptive information processing system, which is a fancy way to explain the natural connections that your mind will make in order to help heal itself. EMDR therapy will not only help someone process past traumatic memories, but also present and future stressors that may be related to those past memories. This is known as a three pronged approach (past, present, and future.)
EMDR therapy is an amazing therapeutic modality that helps people to rediscover a sense of safety and connection within themselves and also with others. EMDR engages the deeper parts of the brain (limbic system and brain stem), whereas talk therapy only engages the thinking part of the brain (pre-frontal cortex), which helps to explain why talking about your trauma has probably never really given you the relief that you were searching for. I don’t want to sound like I’m bashing talk therapy. It can be very beneficial and effective if the person using it has already processed their trauma. Lastly, shout out to Francine Shapiro who discovered EMDR therapy back in 1987. She’s since passed away, but I’m thankful for her contributions in adding a trauma modality that’s been very beneficial to me as a client and EMDR therapist. If you’re interested in searching for an EMDR therapist in your area, please check out EMDRIA’s nationwide directory at www.emdria.org and click on the upper right search bar that says, “find an EMDR therapist”. Connect with one today and start your journey of healing on memory at a time.
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