EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing

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​​UNDERSTANDING EMDR

​​​The mind has a natural way of healing, just as the body does when an injury occurs.  The way the mind accomplishes this is through REM sleep.  In 1987 Francine Shapiro developed a method to mimic REM sleep in an awake state, and EMDR, Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing, emerged in the world of mental health. There is a mountain of evidence after rigorous research to prove that it is an effective treatment not only for PTSD yet many of the issues that people seek counseling to overcome, such as anxiety, depression, grief, and negative belief systems.

HOW TRAUMA WORKS IN THE MIND

The mind constantly manages experiences, processes them, and properly stores them in the brain.  When a person experiences something that is out of the ordinary or is repeatedly exposed to a stressor, the brain struggles to process and store the information correctly. The ability to use natural coping mechanisms becomes overloaded.  The experience can remain unprocessed and frozen in the brain, which activates the part of the brain that controls the fight, flight or freeze response (the limbic system).  This part of the brain is the home of our most complex emotions, such as anger and love.      

​The traumatic memory is held in a raw and emotionally suspended state, easily triggered by experiences resembling the trauma.  Over time, the memory may fade, yet the emotional agitation does not disappear.  The mental unrest this causes makes it difficult sometimes to think, process information, live in the moment, and learn new experiences. ​

WHAT HAPPENS DURING EMDR ​

​In the EMDR process, you will be asked specific questions about a particular disturbing memory.  Using a light bar, you will track the light to move your eyes much as you would in REM sleep.   The term used in EMDR for tracking the light is bilateral stimulation.  The right hemisphere is overactivated when trauma hijacks the limbic system, and the left hemisphere cannot self-soothe the right hemisphere.  Bilateral stimulation causes both hemispheres to be activated, bypassing the stuck right hemisphere of the brain caused by the trauma.  The eye movements will occur for a short period and then stop.  After following the light, you will be asked to report what you experienced. Changes are often reported in thoughts, feelings, and sensations in the body. 

​With repeated sets of eye movements, clients process the experience in a way that creates some peaceful resolution, which is the desensitization portion of EMDR.  With the help of a therapist, who works as a guide in the process, the perception of the experience can change so that the experience can finally be stored appropriately in the cerebral cortex, the reprocessing of EMDR.  The limbic system is soothed, and the memory becomes just a memory without the raw emotional sensations.  Essentially, the memory is neutralized and loses its painful intensity.  While the memory is reprocessed, other associated memories may heal simultaneously.
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​Resources are created before the tracking of the light begins to help calm you should you feel overwhelmed in the process.  We can stop and use these resources and start again when you feel ready.  You are in charge and are encouraged to advocate for yourself in the process.

​Clients often report relief from the following symptoms after completion of EMDR:

• High anxiety and lack of motivation
• Depression
• The emotional impact of memories of a traumatic experience
• Fear of being alone
• Unrealistic feelings of guilt and shame
• Difficulty in trusting others
• Difficulties in personal relationships​
• Being more present and in your body
• Anger that is associated with past memories or a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness
• Being closed to communication and intimacy
• Fear of connecting to emotions
• Feelings of abandonment
• Fear or anxiety about engaging in intimate relationships

“Funny, this EMDR stuff… It’s like it never happened to me. It’s like the EMDR put that experience in a place where it never happened. It’s like I used to look at a room filled with old stuff and now it’s all gone. Everything is organized and I can’t even remember what it was like before!”

- Esly Carvalho, Ph.D.