What is EMDR?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an interactive, evidenced-based psychotherapy technique, originally developed in 1989 by Francine Shapiro, to treat distress associated with traumatic experiences. Since then, the scope of use has broadened beyond severe trauma, to include a wide variety of overwhelming life experiences. While there are many therapeutic approaches that compare to the effectiveness of EMDR, research has shown that EMDR therapy can exhibit improvement in symptoms in less sessions than other treatment modalities.
Who can benefit from EMDR?
EMDR has been extensively researched and proven effective for the treatment of PTSD. However, experiencing severe trauma (i.e, active combat in war or childhood physical abuse) is not a prerequisite to benefit from EMDR. Painful or overwhelming experiences, such as being teased in elementary school, experiencing the death of a pet, or severe anxiety with public speaking, can also be addressed through this treatment modality.
How does EMDR work?
Using an 8-phase protocol, EMDR integrates elements of many effective psychotherapies including psychodynamic, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Behavioral (MBCBT), interpersonal, experiential, and body-centered. It is the bilateral stimulation (BLS) core component of EMDR, however, that distinguishes it from any other method.
BLS is visual, tactile or auditory stimuli occurring in a rhythmic pattern from the left hemisphere of the brain to the right. For example, visual BLS could involve watching a hand (as demonstrated in above), or a moving light alternating from left to right and back again. Tactile BLS could involve experiencing alternating taps on each hand. Auditory BLS could involve hearing alternating tones.
What does bilateral stimulation (BLS) do?
While there is still a lot to learn about BLS, it can be said that it produces four main effects:
These effects are first experienced in the lower areas of the brain as a physiological response (i.e, decreased heart rate, tension), progressing ‘up’ the brain leading to changes in thoughts (e.g, shift from previously held self-blame to “It’s not my fault”).
What BLS & EMDR is not:
EMDR and the use of BLS is not a form of hypnosis. EMDR requires a client to be awake and fully present in the room. When processing distressing memories using BLS, clients recall challenging memories as if they are watching a movie or looking out of the window of a moving train. EMDR therapy does not erase the memory or event. Rather, it desensitizes the emotional impact the memory has on our emotional well-being, and reprocesses it so when we recall the memory, it can be viewed as merely an event that occurred in our lives without the accompaniment of emotional and physiological disturbance.
Is BLS safe?
For most people, BLS is relaxing and perfectly safe. However, because it involves direct sensory stimulation of the nervous system, bilateral stimulation can trigger unexpected responses in people with conditions which involve hypersensitivity to sensory stimuli, e.g, people with acquired brain injury (where the condition involves sensitivity to complex visual or auditory stimuli), migraine sufferers (usually when they have the migraine), and/or people with Dissociative Identity Disorder (where different ego states may be activated by sensory changes). People with these kinds of conditions should only engage in BLS with the guidance of a trained EMDR therapist.
More information:
For more information on the history, use, and evaluation of EMDR, please visit the Frequently Asked Questions Section of the EMDR Institute™ website: www.emdr.com/frequent-questions
EMDR has been extensively researched and proven effective for the treatment of PTSD. However, experiencing severe trauma (i.e, active combat in war or childhood physical abuse) is not a prerequisite to benefit from EMDR. Painful or overwhelming experiences, such as being teased in elementary school, experiencing the death of a pet, or severe anxiety with public speaking, can also be addressed through this treatment modality.
How does EMDR work?
Using an 8-phase protocol, EMDR integrates elements of many effective psychotherapies including psychodynamic, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Behavioral (MBCBT), interpersonal, experiential, and body-centered. It is the bilateral stimulation (BLS) core component of EMDR, however, that distinguishes it from any other method.
BLS is visual, tactile or auditory stimuli occurring in a rhythmic pattern from the left hemisphere of the brain to the right. For example, visual BLS could involve watching a hand (as demonstrated in above), or a moving light alternating from left to right and back again. Tactile BLS could involve experiencing alternating taps on each hand. Auditory BLS could involve hearing alternating tones.
What does bilateral stimulation (BLS) do?
While there is still a lot to learn about BLS, it can be said that it produces four main effects:
- Relaxation including decreased physiological disturbance
- Thoughts become less focused on what had been causing the distress
- The problem seems further away and less intense
- Decreased worry
These effects are first experienced in the lower areas of the brain as a physiological response (i.e, decreased heart rate, tension), progressing ‘up’ the brain leading to changes in thoughts (e.g, shift from previously held self-blame to “It’s not my fault”).
What BLS & EMDR is not:
EMDR and the use of BLS is not a form of hypnosis. EMDR requires a client to be awake and fully present in the room. When processing distressing memories using BLS, clients recall challenging memories as if they are watching a movie or looking out of the window of a moving train. EMDR therapy does not erase the memory or event. Rather, it desensitizes the emotional impact the memory has on our emotional well-being, and reprocesses it so when we recall the memory, it can be viewed as merely an event that occurred in our lives without the accompaniment of emotional and physiological disturbance.
Is BLS safe?
For most people, BLS is relaxing and perfectly safe. However, because it involves direct sensory stimulation of the nervous system, bilateral stimulation can trigger unexpected responses in people with conditions which involve hypersensitivity to sensory stimuli, e.g, people with acquired brain injury (where the condition involves sensitivity to complex visual or auditory stimuli), migraine sufferers (usually when they have the migraine), and/or people with Dissociative Identity Disorder (where different ego states may be activated by sensory changes). People with these kinds of conditions should only engage in BLS with the guidance of a trained EMDR therapist.
More information:
For more information on the history, use, and evaluation of EMDR, please visit the Frequently Asked Questions Section of the EMDR Institute™ website: www.emdr.com/frequent-questions