EMDR Therapy

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) therapy is a holistic, evidence based approach, best known for working with the mind, emotions and body to assist people who have memories that are still getting in the way of them living a happy life. In particular, it is recommended by organisations such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) for treatment of PTSD and Acute Stress Disorder.

EMDR therapy involves an 8-phase process that utilises eye movements and other methods of bilateral stimulation in order to assist the brain’s neural pathways to process information contained in memories that stays stuck in the emotional part of our brain, the limbic system. EMDR therapy helps to put these old memories “in context” so they no longer feel disturbing.

Images, thoughts, emotions and body sensations that are maladaptive and may have been present for many years in connection to a memory, can be replaced by more adaptive information. This occurs spontaneously with reprocessing, when it seems that no matter how much logic we use, we can’t shift this information.

This is important because many of our emotional issues are related to memories including images or beliefs we hold, or patterns we have created. These may manifest as visual intrusions, nightmares, panic attacks, addictive or maladaptive behaviours, irrational feelings or beliefs we have about ourselves, or body sensations.

These beliefs and patterns originated at the time of a particular event in our life, and may continue to have been triggered by many further events.

You may notice that sometimes you have a reaction that is excessive for the type of event that has just occurred. This can be because the new event has something in common (either consciously or subconsciously) with a previous event that was traumatic for you. In order for this new event not to trigger old reactions, it is useful to clear or shift the disturbance associated with the older event(s).

With EMDR therapy, it is possible to go back to some of these events and to use eye movement to clear the discomfort around the memory.  This removes the physical and emotional disturbance around these events and great changes can then take place because we are no longer attached to the events or to the beliefs that were originally created around those memories.

While EMDR therapy is already recognised as being an effective treatment for PTSD, evidence is slowly and steadily accumulating for its clinical efficacy across other mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression, phobias, addictions and eating disorders.

For further information, visit the EMDRAA website.