Eye Movement and Desensitisation Reprocessing

What Is emdr?

The mind can often heal itself naturally, as does the body following injury or trauma.
After experiencing traumatic or emotionally charged events our brain works to process this information, mostly during deep sleep. You can think of this like your brain organising and filing away information, which can be retrieved at a later date, to help us make sense of other events.

Sometimes, after experiencing a traumatic event our natural coping mechanisms can become overloaded and information is not processed; it becomes stuck or frozen in time, in an unprocessed state. This means the memories and feelings are stored in a raw form, just like the time it happened.
You can think of this like the filing cabinet spilling open. This can result in unwanted thoughts, images, flashbacks or nightmares about the event(s), difficult emotions and pain connected to the event(s), being more aware of threats contributing to a constant state of anxiety, worrying about bad things happening and being unable to face similar places or reminders. Ability to live in the present and learn from new experiences is limited.

In 1987, Dr Francine Shapiro. an American Clinical Psychologist developed EMDR, after discovering under certain conditions eye movements could reduce the intensity of disturbing emotions and thoughts. By mimicking what occurs in our deepest stage of sleep, EMDR creates connections between the brains memory networks and enables the brain to process traumatic memories in a natural way. You can think of this like re-organising the information and storing it back in the filing cabinet. These memories can then be recalled but without the same level of distress.

What is an emdr session like?

After an assessment phase, sessions initially focus on strategies to help you manage distress, to ensure you have skills to help you when you are ready to revisit the traumatic memory.
In order for EMDR to be successful, therapists are trained in following a strict protocol.
When you are ready to revisit the memory, eye movements similar to those during sleep will be recreated. At Chin Up Therapy we use state of the art, specialist EMDR equipment.
During the session you may experience a change in thoughts, images and feelings. The memory tends to change in such a way that it loses its painful intensity and becomes a natural memory of the past. Other associated memories may also heal at the same time. This improvement can be rapid and bring improvements in many aspects of your life.

How long does it take?

EMDR can be a brief treatment but everyone processes information at a different rate and certain types of trauma may require more work. EMDR can also be part of a longer therapy programme. Sessions typically last between 60 and 90 minutes.

Book a no obligation assessment today to discuss more about EMDR and ask any questions.