By Janice DeLange, Ph.D.
In the course of our lives we may come across two different sorts of trauma: capital "T" traumas, and small "t" traumas. The big ones are easy to recognize: assault, physical and sexual abuse, car accident, death or suicide of a loved one, serious illness and the like, often resulting in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The small ones often are repetitive negative events, such as receiving frequent criticism or blame, being called names or feeling humiliated or embarrassed often as a child and yet still remembered as an adult. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), is a relatively new psychotherapy technique that has been found to be very effective in dealing with and recovering from the upsetting effects of traumatic memories.
Whether a person experiences a situation as traumatic is very individual. One person has a bad car accident and goes on driving while another one is phobic or has anxiety driving again. We all are hearing about the war veterans and the resulting PTSD. Even though the veteran is back in the US for years, often the nightmares and the flashbacks continue. A certain sound, smell, or sight can trigger the same fear and anxiety that the original situation did. For instance, Jim has trouble driving down a highway because the headlights of oncoming cars flashes him back to standing at a checkpoint and not knowing whether this vehicle is friend or foe, life or death for him and his men. George, having experienced a fatal accident for the young drivers who ran a stop sign, reacts with fear at approaching cars from the left, cannot drive through the intersection where this took place without extreme anxiety and every bump in the road startles him. Then there is Susan, who grew up with a critical and strict father, who reacts with anxiety when her supervisor calls her in for anything, expecting that she has done something wrong because she carries a core belief that she cannot do anything right. Upsetting memories have a lasting negative effect on the way a person looks at the world or relates to others. In all these types of events EMDR has been helpful so that the person no longer relives the images, sounds, and feelings when the event is brought to mind. The event is still remembered but without the upsetting emotion.
No one yet knows exactly how it works neurobiologically or in the brain. Studies are ongoing. We do know that when people are upset, their brain cannot process information as it does ordinarily. EMDR appears to be similar to what occurs naturally during dreaming or REM, rapid eye movement, sleep. Following successful EMDR, the images, sounds, smells, and feelings are no longer relived when recalling the event(s).
A number of scientific studies have shown that EMDR is effective for PTSD and that the beneficial effect is maintained. The International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies recognizes EMDR as an effective technique for trauma. Many EMDR therapists, including myself, have found it helpful for clients with anxiety, panic attacks, phobias, complicated grief, disturbing memories, performance anxiety and survivors of sexual and/or physical abuse. Also, important to all in managed care insurance plans where the number of sessions is limited, it generally works more rapidly than many other types of psychotherapy; it is usually combined with talk therapy. Since it is a psychotherapy technique, sessions are covered by insurance companies in the same way that psychotherapy is.
An EMDR therapist is a fully
qualified psychotherapist who has also been specifically trained in
the process and use of EMDR. I was trained in this intervention
in 1995 and have been using it ever since. I often stand in awe
of the results clients receive from this procedure.
For further information on the EMDR process and development, visit the EMDR Institute, Inc., and the EMDR International Association.