What is EMDR Therapy?
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a psychotherapy that enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences. Repeated studies show that by using EMDR therapy people can experience the benefits of psychotherapy that once took years to make a difference. It is widely assumed that severe emotional pain requires a long time to heal. EMDR therapy shows that the mind can in fact heal from psychological trauma much as the body recovers from physical trauma.
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing.
When we experience a trauma or a highly stressful event, our brain often struggles to process this information like it would an ordinary event. The memory can ‘get stuck’ with all the emotions, body sensations, and beliefs that we had at the time which means it can get easily triggered and feel like it’s happening again and again. These ‘stuck’ memories can cause a range of difficulties such as flashbacks, nightmares, strong feelings of shame/guilt, negative thoughts about ourselves, avoidance, hyper-vigilance, feeling on edge, struggling to sleep or concentrate, etc.
EMDR works on the basis that all people have the innate ability to heal, like how our body can naturally heal a cut in our skin. However, if we have a splinter stuck in our skin, we first need to remove the splinter before our body can naturally heal. In the same way, if we have a trauma memory that gets stuck, we can use EMDR to help it get ‘unstuck’ through ‘processing’ the memory, so that our brain and body can heal. This enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences.
EMDR is a well-researched therapy and is recognized by organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO) as an effective treatment for PTSD, anxiety, depression, and phobias. Repeated studies show that by using EMDR therapy people can experience the benefits of psychotherapy that once took years to make a difference.
Here are some helpful links if you are interested in knowing more about EMDR:
Frequently asked questions about EMDR:
https://www.emdr.com/frequent-questions/
What is EMDR Video:
https://vimeo.com/346754565
EMDR Animation:
https://youtu.be/JNN1lQ-AHoo?si=HgrqUWSDNFQAM5AS