Francine Shapiro developed Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) in the1980s to help people heal from trauma and adversities.
Most of the time, the body routinely manages new information and experiences without awareness of it. However, when something out of the ordinary occurs, and someone is traumatized by an overwhelming event, the natural coping mechanism of a person can become overloaded.
This overloading can result in disturbing experiences remaining frozen or unprocessed in the brain. The idea is that traumatic memories sometimes get 'stuck' in the information-processing system of the brain, along with the emotions and the physical sensations that went with the original traumatic experience. As a result, traumatic memories can be continually triggered when similar events are experienced. Often the memory itself is long forgotten, but the painful feelings such as anxiety, panic, anger or despair are triggered in the present.
EMDR helps create the connections between the brain's memory networks, enabling the brain to process the traumatic memory in a very natural way.
At the end of the EMDR therapy, the client can still remember the bad event, but it is no longer upsetting.
EMDR desensitizes and reprocesses the difficult memory or issue so that the client has peace with it.
What Can EMDR Treat?
Scientific research has established EMDR as effective for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. However, clinicians also have reported success using EMDR in treatment of the following conditions:
- Trauma
- Panic attacks
- Complicated grief
- Dissociative disorders
- Phobias
- Pain disorders
- Anxiety
- Stress reduction
- Addictions
- Sexual and/or Physical abuse
- Body dysmorphic disorders
Source: www.emdria.org and www.getselfhelp.co.uk
For Further Information
www.emdria.org
www.emdrcanada.org
