What is EMDR Therapy?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR therapy) is a highly effective, empirically validated and research-based therapy that integrates elements of cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic, body-centered, and experiential therapies. EMDR was developed by Francine Shapiro, PhD after a chance discovery in 1987 that led her to fully develop the phenomenon of saccadic eye movements and their role in desensitizing emotionally distressing memories into a fully integrative therapy modality (adapted from emdr.com). EMDR is one of the most highly technical therapies available, utilizing standardized protocols to address a variety of presenting problems. It works by targeting specific memories that have been causing problems in the present day-to-day functioning of an individual. Those memories are accessed during therapy sessions while using brief bursts of bilateral stimulation to the left and right hemispheres of the brain. This bilateral stimulation is most easily achieved through rapid back and forth eye movements, but can also be achieved through alternating tactile pulses (often using hand-held "pulsers") or through alternating auditory tones. This unique bilateral stimulation of the brain seems to help memories move from maladaptive to adaptive storage in the brain's own filing system: where they no longer hold the same negative emotional or physiological charge. The latest research has drawn many linkages with the bilateral stimulation used in EMDR therapy to the brain's natural processing system that we experience through Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. REM sleep is the natural way in which we process and consolidate the memories of recent experiences. Under normal circumstances, this process happens easily, but with highly charged emotional material, the process seems to get "stuck." EMDR therapy appears to utilize that same natural processing system; when applied skillfully by a therapist, this allows the brain "metabolize" material that has been stuck for years. EMDR therapy has a standard eight phase treatment approach to address and reprocess past, present, and future linkages to traumatic material.
Although the exact mechanisms of how EMDR therapy works are being continually studied, what we do know is that when the brain experiences traumatic events (which can range from being teased by classmates as a child, to a soldier's experiences during wartime), the memory can become maladaptively stored with all of the original attendant sensory information, emotions, negative thoughts, and body sensations. When triggered, the brain re-experiences these memories as if they are happening "right now" and thus causes a range of symptoms that fall into several mental health disorder categories. These symptoms can be thought of as "the past is driving the present," often on an unconscious level.
Francine Shapiro and the EMDR International Association recently pointed out that The World Health Organization (WHO) practice guidelines have indicated that trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and EMDR therapy are the only psychotherapies recommended for children, adolescents and adults with PTSD. Although EMDR therapy has been fully validated only for PTSD, there are numerous research studies underway evaluating applications to a wide range of disorders. Excellent results have already been achieved with myriad diagnoses. In addition to the reduction of symptoms and the strengthening of adaptive beliefs, the client’s experience of self and others typically shifts in ways that allow the person to respond more adaptively to current and future life demands (Shapiro, 2014).
For the past four decades, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has been the gold standard to treat many disorders, however, since CBT uses only left-brain hemisphere interventions to address what are often right-brain hemisphere processes, the results are often incomplete. The widely used trauma-focused CBT therapy known as Prolonged Imaginal Exposure (PE) has a lot of substantiated research in addressing traumatic memories; however, research has also shown that it can take up to ten times as many sessions to reduce the charge of memories when compared with EMDR therapy. Due to the extended periods of accessing and reviewing details of painful memories in PE, substantial treatment homework, and typically lengthy course of treatment, research shows a relatively high patient drop-out rate for PE. In contrast, the amount of time that a patient is required to access traumatic memory during an EMDR therapy session is limited to usually 10-20 seconds at a time, with little or no treatment homework. These "brief bursts" of memory recall along with the comprehensive stabilization and preparation exercises that are taught in EMDR therapy lead to more rapid results and a much higher treatment completion and success rate when compared to PE.
In short, EMDR therapy directly targets "stuck in time" neural packages and literally re-wires these neural pathways to link up with adaptive information processes in the brain. Recent research has actually been able to demonstrate such "re-wiring" and relocation of memory processes in the brain through electroencephalography EEG mapping pre and post EMDR treatment (Pagani, et al., 2011)
For more information, please visit:
The EMDR Institute: http://emdr.com/
EMDR International Association: http://www.emdria.org/
New York Times article where Dr. Shapiro answers critical questions about EMDR:
http://consults.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/the-evidence-on-e-m-d-r/
Although the exact mechanisms of how EMDR therapy works are being continually studied, what we do know is that when the brain experiences traumatic events (which can range from being teased by classmates as a child, to a soldier's experiences during wartime), the memory can become maladaptively stored with all of the original attendant sensory information, emotions, negative thoughts, and body sensations. When triggered, the brain re-experiences these memories as if they are happening "right now" and thus causes a range of symptoms that fall into several mental health disorder categories. These symptoms can be thought of as "the past is driving the present," often on an unconscious level.
Francine Shapiro and the EMDR International Association recently pointed out that The World Health Organization (WHO) practice guidelines have indicated that trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and EMDR therapy are the only psychotherapies recommended for children, adolescents and adults with PTSD. Although EMDR therapy has been fully validated only for PTSD, there are numerous research studies underway evaluating applications to a wide range of disorders. Excellent results have already been achieved with myriad diagnoses. In addition to the reduction of symptoms and the strengthening of adaptive beliefs, the client’s experience of self and others typically shifts in ways that allow the person to respond more adaptively to current and future life demands (Shapiro, 2014).
For the past four decades, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has been the gold standard to treat many disorders, however, since CBT uses only left-brain hemisphere interventions to address what are often right-brain hemisphere processes, the results are often incomplete. The widely used trauma-focused CBT therapy known as Prolonged Imaginal Exposure (PE) has a lot of substantiated research in addressing traumatic memories; however, research has also shown that it can take up to ten times as many sessions to reduce the charge of memories when compared with EMDR therapy. Due to the extended periods of accessing and reviewing details of painful memories in PE, substantial treatment homework, and typically lengthy course of treatment, research shows a relatively high patient drop-out rate for PE. In contrast, the amount of time that a patient is required to access traumatic memory during an EMDR therapy session is limited to usually 10-20 seconds at a time, with little or no treatment homework. These "brief bursts" of memory recall along with the comprehensive stabilization and preparation exercises that are taught in EMDR therapy lead to more rapid results and a much higher treatment completion and success rate when compared to PE.
In short, EMDR therapy directly targets "stuck in time" neural packages and literally re-wires these neural pathways to link up with adaptive information processes in the brain. Recent research has actually been able to demonstrate such "re-wiring" and relocation of memory processes in the brain through electroencephalography EEG mapping pre and post EMDR treatment (Pagani, et al., 2011)
For more information, please visit:
The EMDR Institute: http://emdr.com/
EMDR International Association: http://www.emdria.org/
New York Times article where Dr. Shapiro answers critical questions about EMDR:
http://consults.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/the-evidence-on-e-m-d-r/
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