EMDR - Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing
Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR) is a specialist therapy that addresses personal issues, or negative experiences, which are held in the mind and body at a deep level.
Whilst most life experiences are processed and dealt with at the time, some remain unprocessed and get stuck in our systems which begin to interfere in daily life. These unprocessed memories get locked or stored away in our neurological networks, until something happens, and they then resurface causing distress and confusion. This is how memories from the past affect the present.
These can take the form of negatively held thoughts, feelings and beliefs and can manifest through the way we feel in our body. This may prevent us from moving forward as we sense that the past is not ‘behind’ us but is present and may be obstructing us or holding us back.
This can lead to feelings of deep frustration or upset and can lead to anxiety, depression, intrusive thoughts, anger, flashbacks, nightmares, confusion and chronic stress.
EMDR is a safe and effective therapy that can help us to process these intense and profound thoughts and feelings.
How can EMDR help?
EMDR is primarily used when a person has had an adverse life experience that has detrimentally affected them and can sometimes, but not always, involve trauma. It may be an early experience they have not found a way to move on from, or a current difficulty which is affecting or distressing them. This can be of a very personal nature and have existed for quite a while, or it can be one that is a more recent or general.
EMDR involves gaining access to these deeply held thoughts and feelings so they can be processed and worked through. Using a range of safe and supportive interventions, including resourcing and bi-lateral stimulation, EMDR connects to those parts of the brain and body that have yet to deal with the experience or become stuck or shut down. During EMDR processing, new adaptive information emerges which supports the minds and body’s natural healing processes. It is this unblocking from the past and reprocessing into the present that EMDR is extremely helpful for.
Issues that EMDR has been successfully used to treat include Adverse childhood experience including abuse, bullying, neglect, PTSD and complex PTSD, family and relationship conflict, anxiety, depression, low self-esteem including negative and critical self-belief, confidence, performance anxiety and panic, nightmares.
EMDR can be a focussed series of sessions, or brief intensive work, or part of longer psychotherapy.
Throughout you stay awake, alert and in control of the processing.
EMDR is a specialist training that is recognised by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, (NICE) The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) as a treatment of choice for PTSD.
I am an accredited and qualified EMDR Consultant with over 35 years therapeutic experience. European Accredited practitioner.
The following video offers information into how EMDR works.
https://youtu.be/bIJZQAr9nQo?feature=shared
Copyright © 2024 The Therapy Practice