Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
What is EMDR Therapy?
EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, is a psychotherapy technique that helps relieve the distress associated with disturbing memories. This therapy involves recalling a specific troublesome experience while following a side-to-side visual stimulus delivered by the therapist, with the resulting lateral eye movements thought to help reduce the emotional charge of the memory. Despite evidence that EMDR works for some clients, it has been highly controversial since it was introduced in 1987, with no universally accepted theory to explain its mechanism of action.
What EMDR Therapy Treats?
EMDR was initially developed as an individual treatment for people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Still, it has since been applied in treating many other conditions, including anxiety disorders, depression, dissociative disorders, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and some personality disorders. To be a candidate for EMDR therapy, clients must be able to tolerate some emotional discomfort and not shut down emotionally or become too easily overwhelmed by feelings.
How Long Dow EMDR Therapy Take?
Expect a course of treatment that consists of six to 12 sessions, typically delivered one or two times a week, although some people may need fewer sessions. After taking the client’s history and explaining the procedure, the therapist helps the client decide which past experiences will be the subject of treatment. Clients can expect to experience emotional and physical discomfort while recalling distressing memories. Sessions end when the client feels calm, with instructions on handling disturbing thoughts and feelings between sessions. Subsequent sessions always begin with assessing memories that may have emerged since the previous treatment.
How Does EMDR Therapy Work?
EMDR is based on the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model and directly targets how a distressing memory is stored in the brain. The assumption is that past disturbing experiences continue to cause distress because they were not adequately processed. When such memories are triggered in the present, they contain all the same emotions, thoughts, and physical sensations as the initial experience. Despite evidence that the technique works, no conclusive explanation for how it does so has ever been put forth.
How To Get Started With EMDR Therapy?
It is important to seek a therapist with whom it is possible to establish clarity of communication and a sense of good fit and who has had extensive training and experience using EMDR to treat clients presenting with mental health concerns. You can reach out to us at Horn Counseling to connect you with an EMDR therapist in your area.
