EMDR or Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing is a treatment that was originally used with combat veterans suffering with symptoms of PTSD. It was found to be so effective that therapists began to use it with victims of a variety traumatic incidents. Now EMDR has moved into the world of traditional psychotherapy and more and more therapists are getting training in it every day. It has been found very effective with something called “complex trauma” or “relational trauma” chronic traumatic incidents, often in family dynamics that now fall under a new understanding of trauma and includes any experience that overwhelmed an individual’s coping devices at the time it occurred. Few of us would argue that there weren’t difficult experiences in our pasts that have left us with certain triggers that continue to effect our lives today. So, yes, there is trauma in your history, whether you remember it or defined it as traumatic or not. EMDR, in its original form, used bilateral eye movements, a side to side movement of the eyes as the client focused on the therapists rapidly moving hand movements and free associated to bits of memory from the far or recent past. These days a variety of forms of bilatera are used in EMDR, from auditory tones, to lights, to tactile taps or buzzers. Sounds a bit strange? EMDR happens to be the only trauma therapy approved by the World Health Organization. EMDR therapists are routinely flown around the world to treat groups and individuals victims of natural or manmade disasters. It has also been found effective with people who have experienced medical trauma, car accidents, grief, phobias, depression. The list goes on and on. There are many scientific explanations for why EMDR works. Too extensive for this particular blog. But stay tuned. to blog on them at the moment. But I may actually attempt to accomplish that in another blog. If you’re presented with the chance to try it in your regular therapy sessions it’s definitely worth considering.
