EMDR. It is not an acronym that rolls easily off the tongue, nor does the name of the treatment therapy for which it stands: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. EMDR is considered “a bestpractices therapy for trauma,” according to John Conrad, assistant director of AltaPointe’s BayView Professional Associates.
What is the EMDR approach?
EMDR therapy is based on therapists’ understanding that when a person is very upset, his or her brain cannot process information normally, and an event can become “frozen in time,” according to Dr. Francine Shapiro, who in 1987 observed that eye movements can reduce the intensity of disturbing thoughts.
Today, she is among recognized experts and authors on the subject, and EMDR steadily has become recognized as an effective treatment for certain people who have experienced deeply disturbing events or issues.
Though EMDR therapy initially incorporated mainly eye movements, it includes other forms of stimulation such as knee tapping and foot-tapping.
Why use EMDR therapy?
In a typical EMDR therapy session, the client may call to mind a disturbing issue or event — what was seen, felt, heard, thought, etc., — and what thoughts and beliefs are currently held about the event. The therapist facilitates the directional movement of the eyes or other dual attention stimulation of the brain, while the client focuses on the disturbing material. Sets of eye movements are continued until the memory becomes less disturbing and is associated with positive thoughts and beliefs about himself or herself.
Informtion for EMDR: you can also link to the AltaNews-Spring-Summer-2017