What is EMDR?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an evidence-based intervention to help individuals with traumatic experiences. These experiences may be from childhood or recent (such as a car accident or assault).
As a practitioner of this intervention, I appreciate the self-led and self-directed pace that allows clients to approach and observe their experiences without needing to verbalize it all or try to make sense of it. It is, at its basic level, a way to observe what happened to you in the past, as your current “today” self. It’s not about re-engaging or trying to change the past - it’s simply looking back with compassion and curiosity. Once clients are able to understand the trauma in a new way, the memories can be safely filed away in the brain and accessed at any time, as the client wishes. This to me is the key to EMDR - the filing of the memory to be accessed on your terms, as opposed to the traumas that free-float in your mind and trigger intense emotions or sensations without your consent.
EMDR can be done via telehealth, and I use an online program that provides visual and auditory cues that allow the same kind of “bilateral stimulation” (meaning activating both ‘sides’ of the brain, which allows for the filing away to happen) as you’d receive in the office through movement by the therapist or holding onto pulsars that alternate sides. If you have headphones with stereo input, you can even close your eyes as you’re processing these memories.
EMDR follows 8 stages, and has a solid, evidence-based protocol that you follow. This makes continuing treatment between clinicians easily possible. It also allows for diving into new content relatively easy after you’ve completed the preparation and understand the process.
Between sessions, clients often report dreams that pertain directly to the issues they’re exploring, or intrusive old tapes of beliefs. It’s important to be prepared for these surfacing issues (which can occur in any treatment type), and have a plan for how you’d like to journal or challenge these thoughts so the work can continue when you’re not in a session.
For more information about EMDR, I encourage you to visit these sites:
Video on EMDR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkfln-ZtWeY
EMDR website from the national association: https://www.emdria.org/about-emdr-therapy/emdr-ptsd/
