EMDR for the Win!
Have you ever wished there was some magic pill that made all your past, present, and future stress disappear? Well, it is not a pill, per se, but a powerful intervention that can help you re-write the narrative of your life. It will not make you forget memories, but it will give you a different perspective of the memories while desensitizing them at the same time. The intervention is Eye Movement Desensitization Therapy (EMDR), and I like to explain the evidenced-based science behind the magic as follows:
First, from the beginning of our existence, our brains process information from events and the people around us; and the messages received tell us we are either good or bad. Cue your self-doubt and negative self-talk: I am bad, I am unlikeable, something is wrong with me…the list could go on and on. The negative self-talk plays out repeatedly in all adverse experiences, which makes these experiences irrevocably linked. Life would be easy if we could drown out those messages and focus on the positive; but we tend to attribute those negative messages as the reality of our existence. EMDR focuses on reframing those negative beliefs to positive beliefs, and I will be the first to acknowledge that can be extremely difficult for many people.
Second, imagine the brain is a puzzle and the pieces are a person’s lived experiences. Some fit together nicely, such as a relaxing beach vacation or a trip to the art museum. On the other hand, the stress or trauma pieces have not found their place and are floating around constantly bumping into the brain’s emotional response center, the Amygdala, triggering fight-flight-freeze. A situation does not have to be traumatic to create stress, but the core negative belief is the same if the experience itself is negative. This is due in large part to our brains not being able to immediately identify if something is truly dangerous: for instance, getting robbed at gunpoint versus getting into an argument over a black Friday TV sale. Both situations are stressful, but which one is the real threat?
One component of EMDR is bilateral stimulation (BLS) of both hemispheres of the brain, which is used to accelerate processing of events. Back and forth eye movements following a finger or a light bar has been the gold standard for many years, but research shows BLS is found in a variety of ways to process events while regulating the nervous system: think of a mother rocking her baby back and forth, which is an innate form of BLS. Another regulating form of BLS is the butterfly taps, and there is a link below to see a short grounding video using butterfly taps.
Created in 1987 by Francine Shapiro to alleviate symptoms of distress caused by traumatic events; EMDR has been extensively researched over the last 3 decades with substantial evidence to support it as one of the main types of trauma interventions. The Office of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) supports much of the research and recommends EMDR as a treatment for veteran’s experiencing PTSD. Of course, this extends to anyone experiencing trauma, as well as EMDR protocols developed for the treatment of many different acute and chronic mental health concerns.
Clinicians who are trained in EMDR truly believe in the amazing power of the intervention, but it is not always an easy road. One misconception is a person does not have to talk about their past trauma or stress, but there is still a history-taking component requiring the person to talk about those targeted events. Additionally, when a person is actively doing BLS to target stressful memories they are recalling parts of those memories that can trigger all the senses, possibly leading to dysregulation. It is vitally important to build coping skills and regulation techniques, which is not only a part of EMDR, but all therapy interventions.
Please see the links below if you are interested in learning more about EMDR.
EMDR International Association Home | EMDR Practitioners (emdria.org)
Video with Grounding techniques using BLS
People with various medical conditions, such as epilepsy, may not be a good candidate for EMDR. It is always a good idea to consult with your medical doctor before beginning treatment.