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EMDRWhat is EMDR? EMDR, (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a mind-body based therapy proven effective in treating chronic PTS (post-traumatic stress) symptoms that are the result of recent or past traumatic experiences. One of its advantages is that EMDR can provide relief from PTS symptoms faster than traditional talk psychotherapy approaches. Some of the distressing symptoms of PTS are; anxiety, guilt, depression, panic, sleep disturbances, and flashbacks. Anxiety is a normal response to abnormal circumstances. However, when a person’s anxiety level increases to the point where the nervous system becomes overwhelmed or frozen, the brain cannot process information as it does ordinarily. One terrifying moment becomes “frozen in time” usually accompanied by a feeling of helplessness and, in extreme situations, dissociation. Remembering a trauma can feel as intensely painful as the original incident because the images, sounds, smells, and feelings are stuck in that moment in time encapsulated in the right brain. EMDR can change a person’s relationship to the trauma. When the troubling side effects are processed in both the left and right hemispheres of the brain with non-intrusive bilateral stimulation, the traumatic experiences will recede into the past where they belong. Though the memory remains, it no longer interferes in current relationships and daily functioning. Most people experience trauma at some time in their lives. whether because of personal injury, war, rape, loss of a child or other family member, natural disaster, repeated childhood neglect, deprivation, being bullied, repeated sexual, physical or emotional abuse, or frightening medical procedures. EMDR can be used to treat debilitating side effects of those traumas that never got resolved. How long will EMDR take? The amount of time needed for treatment depends on the extent and type of unresolved traumas, as well as other factors that can be assessed in the initial stages of treatment. If there has been unresolved early childhood trauma it may have adversely affected a young child’s attachment process to the primary caregiver which may affect the child’s optimal development. Early childhood attachment injuries may take longer to resolve. A man in a rehabilitation program was referred for EMDR because he could not “get over” a recent horrific experience. He had become overwhelmed when he discovered the body of a person who had committed a particularly violent suicide in one of the rooms of the facility he was attending. He was afraid that he would have to leave the program because of disturbing flashbacks, heightened anxiety when he experienced any reminders of the incident, insomnia, and difficulty concentrating which was affecting his own recovery program. After four sessions of EMDR, he noted that the once terrifying images of the incident no longer disturbed him and, once again, he was able to participate fully is his own recovery program. In processing the recent trauma he realized that part of his distress was the consequence of an earlier unresolved trauma that had some similar aspects to the recent event. That past trauma was also processed in the course of treatment. At the end of the fourth session the man reported a feeling of profound relief from an irrational burden of guilt, a sense of peace with his memory of the traumatic experience, more confidence in his ability to handle intense emotions appropriately, increased ability to focus on his activities, and he was sleeping through the night again. If you have questions about EMDR treatment for yourself or someone close to you, please contact me. Links: www.emdria.org | www.emdr.com |