Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) was serendipitously discovered by Dr. Francine Shapiro in the course of her Ph.D. studies in psychology in 1987. After receiving some bad health news that had a traumatizing effect on her, she noticed when she went for walks in a park that the anxiety and emotional distress abated as the thoughts went away. When she brought the thoughts back to mind, the distress re-appeared, and she noticed her eyes spontaneously moving rapidly back and forth. Intrigued by this, like the enterprising graduate student she was, she conducted a study on the phenomenon, hypothesizing that this might be a hard-wired human response in attempting to deal with trauma. The results of her study gave weak, but positive associations for her hypothesis. When she coupled the eye movements with other cognitive interventions, the associations became much stronger, and results were more definitive. She presented her findings in 1989, and EMDR gradually made its way into the world of psychology. Today, it is considered a tool of major importance in dealing with PTSD by institutions like the U.S. Defense Department, American Psychological Association, World Health Organization, and the Veteran’s Health Administration. But EMDR is not limited to use for PTSD and major traumas like war or crime victimhood; it is also very useful for dealing with more mild and moderate levels of emotional distress as well. Though it is recommended that a clinician apply the protocol, it can and has been self-administered with success as well. I used a version of EMDR in searching out and processing distressing memories that still held a charge for me but had escaped inventory and other energetic interventions. This is a powerful method in relieving emotional distress and beginning to restore emotional balance.
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. […] The brain’s information processing system naturally moves toward mental health. If the system is blocked or imbalanced by the impact of a disturbing event, the emotional wound festers and can cause intense suffering. Once the block is removed, healing resumes. Using the detailed protocols and procedures learned in EMDR therapy training sessions, clinicians help clients activate their natural healing processes.
“What is EMDR?”, EMDR Institute, Inc.
More than 30 positive controlled outcome studies have been done on EMDR therapy. Some of the studies show that 84%-90% of single-trauma victims no longer have post-traumatic stress disorder after only three 90-minute sessions. Another study, funded by the HMO Kaiser Permanente, found that 100% of the single-trauma victims and 77% of multiple trauma victims no longer were diagnosed with PTSD after only six 50-minute sessions. In another study, 77% of combat veterans were free of PTSD in 12 sessions. […] Over 100,000 clinicians throughout the world use the therapy. Millions of people have been treated successfully over the past 25 years.
EMDR therapy is an eight-phase treatment. Eye movements (or other bilateral stimulation) are used during one part of the session. After the clinician has determined which memory to target first, he asks the client to hold different aspects of that event or thought in mind and to use his eyes to track the therapist’s hand as it moves back and forth across the client’s field of vision. As this happens, for reasons believed by a Harvard researcher to be connected with the biological mechanisms involved in Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, internal associations arise and the clients begin to process the memory and disturbing feelings. In successful EMDR therapy, the meaning of painful events is transformed on an emotional level. For instance, a rape victim shifts from feeling horror and self-disgust to holding the firm belief that, “I survived it and I am strong.” Unlike talk therapy, the insights clients gain in EMDR therapy result not so much from clinician interpretation, but from the client’s own accelerated intellectual and emotional processes. The net effect is that clients conclude EMDR therapy feeling empowered by the very experiences that once debased them. Their wounds have not just closed, they have transformed. As a natural outcome of the EMDR therapeutic process, the clients’ thoughts, feelings and behavior are all robust indicators of emotional health and resolution—all without speaking in detail or doing homework used in other therapies.
A short video on EMDR from the Veteran’s Health Administration:
Here is a vignette of a wonderful private therapy EMDR session made available to the public showing the rapid and deep-reaching effects of a few minutes of EMDR coupled with hand tapping. The client moves through intensely feeling the original traumatic memory, processing it, and discharging it. The therapist asks for occasional subjective ratings on both emotional intensity and cognitive validity of affirmations to track improvement through the treatment. Near the end of the session, a counter belief is instilled and reinforced to take the place of the now-discharged negative thoughts. Notice the accelerating improvement happening rapidly towards the conclusion.
Via Perennis 