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Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing - A New Technique

By: Su Fox

Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing is a rather long and complex title for a therapeutic tool that is new and can be quickly learned and is easy to put into practice.

Discovered in 1987 by Francine Shapiro in the USA, it is now a recognized technique used in trauma centres everywhere, with a plethora of research documentation to back up its effectiveness.

This is what happens in an EMDR session

The client goes through the process of describing the traumatic memory. The practitioner helps them to concentrate on the most grave aspect and the feelings that go with it. They then describe the negative belief that may have become internalised as a result.

Let's take a man that had been caught up in a car accident who believed that he should have been more careful. He might be thinking 'I'm an idiot'. The client is then helped by the therapist to frame the belief that this man really wants, which could be something along the lines of 'I do my very best to make sure I'm safe.' These thought and feeling are given ratings on a scale of 1-10.

Holding the memory, the negative thought and the feelings in mind, the client then watches the therapist's hand as she waves it in front of his face for a series of movements, then pauses.

The client says whatever he's thinking, feeling or noticing in his body, then the hand movements start again, and this is repeated until therapist and client seem to have got to the end and nothing new is coming up. They return to the original memory, the thoughts and the feelings and rate them again. The ratings provide an objective measure of change.

In what way does this work?

It seems that the brain fails to process trauma memories in the usual way, and they get stuck in a place (the limbic system) where they are easily triggered. Bilateral stimulation of the brain appears to help these memories shift to the place where ordinary memories are stored (the cerebral cortex), losing their emotional charge on the way.

Clients that have gone through this process say that while the memory of the traumatic event is still there, the really terrifying or unhappy feelings that go with it have disappeared completely, and they feel better in themselves.

The usual way of doing EMDR is with eye movements but other methods involving bilateral stimulation can be used. This would include tapping on knees or hands alternately or wearing headphones and listening to sounds. It can be most effective also where talk therapy finds it difficult to shift pattern and core beliefs.

For a trauma that is simple as with a car accident, the feelings may be processed in only six sessions. Traumas that are more complex may require a therapeutic relationship that is ongoing.

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Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing is a rather long and complex title for a therapeutic tool that is new and can be quickly learned and is easy to put into practice.

Su Fox is a knowledgeable UK psychotherapist and counsellor who can be found at london psychotherapy or london counselling. She is also author of a text for holistic therapists: Relating To Clients.

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