EMDR can appear quite strange. Someone moves their hand in front of your face while you think about something difficult. That is more or less the therapy. I have had it myself. When I had my first session I was too sceptical to let go and go with it, but in my second session I managed to set that aside and it worked. I was amazed. 

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing. It was developed in the late 1980s by American psychologist Dr Francine Shapiro, originally to treat PTSD. It is recommended by NICE, the World Health Organisation, and the NHS, and is now used for a wider range of difficulties: anxiety, depression, phobias, low self-esteem, and distressing memories that have proved resistant to other approaches.

The problem with certain memories

Most memories behave like memories in that they feel like something that happened in the past. But some memories don't. When something feels truly overwhelming, the brain goes into survival mode. Rather than filing the experience into the past, it is focused on surviving. Certain memories stay raw as a result, held in a different place in the brain and in the body, as if the event isn't over.

This is why a particular smell, a tone of voice, or certain situations can bring something back not as recollection but as experience. It is also why knowing that you are safe is not always enough to feel you are safe.

Talking can help make sense of this. But the memory itself, held in that raw way, can not always be processed through traditional psychotherapy. 

What happens in a session

The core of EMDR involves bringing a distressing memory to mind while following a form of bilateral stimulation, usually guided eye movements, though tapping and alternating sounds can also be used. This is thought to engage a process similar to what happens during REM sleep, when the brain naturally processes and integrates the experiences of the day.

So EMDR appears to activate something the brain does every night. In this way the emotional charge attached to the memory is lessened and it becomes clear that it is something that happened in the past rather than something still happening.

EMDR doesn’t require a detailed verbal account of what happened. This is helpful when shame or humiliation is part of what makes a memory hard to approach.

What EMDR can help with

EMDR is best known as a treatment for PTSD and trauma, where the evidence is strongest. It is also used for anxiety, depression, grief, phobias, low self-esteem, and persistent flashbacks or intrusive thoughts.

Many difficulties do not meet the clinical threshold for PTSD but involve memories stored in the same raw, unprocessed way. EMDR can be useful for those too.

What to expect

EMDR is structured, and preparation is part of the work. Before any processing begins, we spend time understanding what you are bringing, how the approach works, and ensuring you have enough of a sense of safety to go into difficult territory. The therapy can bring up strong feelings as it works, but I always go at a pace that works for you.

 

If this sounds like a therapy that might be helpful for you, please get in touch and we can talk about whether EMDR is the right approach.