What Is Emdr ? Emdr Therapy in London by City Psychology

What is EMDR ? EMDR Therapy in London

EMDR therapy (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) was developed in 1987 by Francine Shapiro to alleviate the negative effects of post-traumatic stress disorder. EMDR is a holistic therapy with a somatic approach that focuses on the mind-body connection. We at City Psychological Services London provide the best emdr therapy London. In the article you will come to know about the treatment of PTSD through emdr therapy.

EMDR is based on the adaptive information processing model: it proposes that there is a physiological processing system in our brain that stores new information. If information about a traumatic event is not fully processed, the original painful perceptions will be stored and kept intact, along with any other distorted thoughts or perceptions experienced at the time of the event. If these initial painful perceptions are not processed correctly, they will become the basis for the dysfunctional thoughts and feelings that characterize PTSD. PTSD symptoms will disappear only by fully processing all these elements in the brain.

Using a metaphor, the functionality of EMDR can be explained like this: when you eat healthy, your digestive system processes the food and removes toxic waste. But when you eat a fatty food, your body cannot digest it easily. You feel uncomfortable, groggy or anxious. Following the same pattern, EMDR therapy provides support for the brain to digest overwhelming and traumatic memories and assimilate toxic material.

EMDR and the human brain. Application steps

EMDR uses bilateral eye movements, like those that occur during REM sleep, to stimulate both hemispheres of the brain and activate the information processing centers that PTSD has blocked. These eye movements have the role of decreasing the intensity of the images and emotions associated with the traumatic event. As the brain goes through this desensitization to the experienced psychological stress, it opens the way to process the traumatic memories along with new and adaptive positive information, which is then stored in memory.

EMDR therapy comprises eight phases, with between three and eight phases repeated in most sessions. This therapy may last several months.

Phases I and II: In the first phase, the counselor learns the trauma history, assesses the extent to which the client is ready for change, and develops a treatment plan. In the second phase, the counselor-client relationship is established, the client communicates the expectations regarding the treatment, the counselor explains the course of the treatment.

Phase III: The processing of painful memories now begins, with the evaluation of the sensory, cognitive, and affective elements of the targeted painful memory. The client describes the visual images associated with the memory. He is then asked to identify the negative belief about himself that this image evokes. For example, the client may say: I'm a loser.The client is then asked to indicate a positive belief they wish to associate with this image. Depending on how believable this association sounds to him, he will give it a score from 1 to 7. He is then prompted to mentally combine the disturbing image with that negative belief. This step will activate his network of memories and bring strong emotions to the surface. The client is then asked to identify these emotions and rate them from 0 to 10 based on how distressing each one is. By labeling these emotions, the client is able for the first time to articulate those feelings that he has not been able to express up to this point. All this moment will represent a working basis for the counselor, who will monitor the changes in the intensity of these emotions. In the end,

Phase IV: The client is directed to focus on the visual image, negative belief, and bodily sensation, being encouraged to feel them as they come. The counselor then moves his fingers back and forth in front of the client, triggering bilateral eye movement. This movement lasts between 15-20 seconds. Light taps on the hands or feet can also be applied. After repeating this process a few times, the client is asked to indicate what sensations he feels in his body and what images he now has in his mind. As negative images and beliefs become more diffuse, space is created for new, positive beliefs.

Phases V and VI: The fifth phase applies when the client can access the memory without feeling that mental stress anymore. The client is asked to think about the first painful memory while thinking about the new positive beliefs. The purpose of this step is to embed and reinforce the positive cognition until the client begins to believe it. In the sixth phase, the client is asked to notice if he feels tension. The process is considered completed only when the client can think about that memory without experiencing negative sensations in the body.

Phases VII and VIII: In phase seven, the counselor assesses whether the memory has been fully processed. The client is informed that the process of reprogramming and reprocessing will continue outside the session, so he is asked to write down sensations, thoughts, states in a journal. In the eighth phase, which occurs at the beginning of each new session, the counselor prompts the client to think about the memory in order to assess the extent to which the treatment is working. Also in this phase, review the client's diary to identify possible new triggers.

• The effectiveness of EMDR

As early as 1998, the American Psychological Association rated EMDR's effectiveness as superior to alternative treatments. Some specialists even put this therapy on an equal footing with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), known as the gold standard in treating PTSD. However, EMDR therapy has been shown to be more effective for civilian trauma, not war-torn.