EMDR
EMDR is an acronym for 'Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing'. It is a powerful psychological treatment method that was developed by clinical psychologist, Dr Francine Shapiro, in the 1980s. Since its original development, EMDR is also increasingly used to help individuals with other issues: Anxiety, Depression, Phobias, Stress, Pain, Performance Anxiety, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Low self-esteem and others.
EMDR includes elements of mindfulness, somatic awareness, exposure, and cognitive therapies and is an eight-phase treatment plan. Which consists of:
1. History Taking and Treatment Planning
2. Thorough Preparation
3. Assessment
4. Desensitisation
5. Installation
6. Body Scan
7. Closure
8. Reevaluation
In EMDR we work with the most charged memory, the negative belief of oneself, feelings and bodily sensations, while using bilateral stimulation. The alternating left-right stimulation of the brain with eye moments, sounds or taps stimulates the frozen or blocked information processing system. EMDR unlocks what is natural within each of us. It is our innate healing process that has been blocked and can be unblocked with EMDR. In the process the distressing memories lose their intensity, so that the memories are less distressing and more like ‘ordinary memories’.
"A full course of EMDR treatment involves not only resolving the traumatic events of the past that are the origin of the client's problem but also targeting present triggers and anticipating future events, so that the individual is empowered to go forward in life free from the symptoms that initially led the client to seek therapy." (Carol Forgash/Margaret Copeley)