Eye Movement Desensitisation
and Reprocessing (EMDR)
Are you curious about (EMDR) Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing?
This page will tell you more about it and how it works. Who developed it and what it is helpful for. What you can expect in a typical therapy session and if EMDR might be right for you? Read on to find out more.
What is EMDR
and how does it work?
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a psychotherapy used to help people recover from distressing or traumatic events, which are having an impact on an individuals wellbeing. EMDR can help the brain reprocess traumatic and difficult events, so that they are no longer as distressing.
EMDR involves bilateral stimulation (such as eye movements, tapping or auditory tones) while recalling traumatic memories, which is thought to help reprocess these experiences and reduce their emotional intensity.
Because the brain is so complex, the exact mechanism behind EMDR is still being studied. There are a few theories on how EMDR works, the most accepted theory is the one proposed by it's founder Dr Francine Shapiro. Francine proposed the Adaptive Information Processing Model (AIP), which suggests that trauma disrupts the brain's natural ability to process trauma memories/ experiences. Traumatic memories can get "stuck" in their raw, unprocessed form (images, smells, sounds, body sensations and beliefs) which can be triggered by similar events/ situations and lead to intense emotions, flashbacks and distress. It is thought that bilateral stimulation helps the brain reprocess these stuck memories, so that they become less emotionally distressing and can be stored in a more adaptive way.
You can read more about EMDR by visiting the EMDR Association UK website.
Who developed
EMDR?
EMDR was first discovered by Dr. Francine Shapiro in the late 1980s, while walking in a park. She noticed that moving her eyes back and forth, seemed to reduce the intensity of her own disturbing thoughts and emotions. She experimented with voluntary eye movements, while recalling negative memories, and found that they seemed to lose their emotional charge.
To test this further, she asked friends and colleagues to recall distressing memories while moving their eyes side to side. Many reported that their memories felt less distressing after the exercise. Based on these observations, she developed a structured process for using eye movements to help process trauma.
In 1989, Shapiro conducted the first formal study with trauma survivors, particularly those with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The study found that eye movements helped reduce distressing emotions linked to traumatic memories. Over time, Shapiro refined EMDR into an eight-phase therapy model, incorporating elements of cognitive therapy, exposure therapy, and neurobiological research. EMDR gained recognition and was adopted by therapists worldwide, eventually becoming a leading treatment for PTSD.
What is EMDR helpful for?
EMDR can essentially be helpful for individuals to process any situation or experience, which has caused emotional disturbance/ distress.
EMDR is most widely known for treating:
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Complex PTSD (cPTSD) or Trauma.
This might involve but is not restricted to life threatening experiences, accidents, abuse including sexual, physical, domestic violence, psychological/ emotional, discriminatory, neglect, witnessing distressing experiences, natural disasters etc.
There is also growing evidence for it's effectiveness in helping people recover from Anxiety disorders such as Panic, Phobia's and OCD as well as Depression, Addictions and Chronic pain. It can also be helpful for anyone dealing with grief, loss, or complicated emotions from past events.
If you have experienced something distressing and it is still troubling you, it is likely that EMDR can help.
What can I expect in a typical EMDR session?
As noted previously, Dr Shapiro developed EMDR to be an eight-phase/ step model of psychotherapy. An EMDR session can be focused on one or more of these phases.
Phase 1 : History and Treatment planning - this involves gathering background information, about the reasons for seeking therapy, symptoms and looking for connections between the symptoms in the past and present.
Phase 2 : Preparation phase - providing information about EMDR, answering questions and developing resources that can be used during processing and developing emotion regulation strategies.
Phase 3 : Assessment - identifying a memory to be processed.
Phase 4 : Desensitisation/ Reprocessing - Using bi-lateral stimulation to process distressing memories.
Phase 5 : Installation - linking the distressing memory with a new positive belief.
Phase 6 : Body Scan - Client scans the body checking for any remaining distress and processed if necessary.
Phase 7 : Closure - The session is brought to a close giving time for the client to feel relaxed and at ease.
Phase 8 : Re-evaluation - Checking that a memory is fully processed and checking on the progress of the therapy.