Who hasn’t had an experience that has impacted him or her? All of us, throughout our lives, have gone through good and bad moments…we cherish some memorable moments, as we carry some traumatic ones as well.
Traumatic experience
By “traumatic”, lets understand that we are talking about any experience that has had a lasting and negative impact of our lives, and that affects us by “reliving” them through images, sensations, emotions or thoughts.
These memories have been “frozen” in our brains, and each time that we access them, we feel disturbed.
As a psychologist, I believe in healing. And it was while looking for better ways to help my patients heal that I discovered Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).
This therapy started during the late 80’s by Francine Shapiro.
Initially, this therapeutical approach was used to treat war veterans who suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). After seeing the powerful healing impact it had on them, it started being used for other types of problems.
This is how the reprocessing of other types of traumatic experiences, such as difficult childhood memories, mourning and natural disasters. and work with them and with any other events that are associated with them in our memories.
Little by little, it was modified so it could be used to treat phobias, anxiety, panic attacks, depression, and basically any other issue that may drive a person to search for help through therapy.
How does this even work?
You may be asking yourself: How does this even work? In a nutshell, and with the help of the psychologist, you are able to identify dysfunctional behaviors in your every day life, and work with them and with any other events that are associated with them in our memories.
It is based don the premise that everything in our histories is stored in our brain through memory networks. Our memories are never isolated, but always connected to other networks, both functional and dysfunctional, which activate thoughts, emotions, sensations and images from the past.
EMDR allows traumatic memories that have not been adequately processed and stored in our brains when they happened, to be reprocessed, leaving the emotional component to the side. This means that the memory will still be there, but it will no longer be disturbing for the patient.
An adaptive resolution
To achieve this, both hemispheres of the brain must be stimulated, much like we naturally do during REM sleep, through eye movements, auditory of kinetic stimulation. At the end of each session, the patient is able to successfully remember each situation without being disturbed by it, having a more current and realistic perspective. The therapist guides the patient through the process, making clinical decisions on how the intervention should be managed, taking them to an adaptive resolution.
The most important part of EMDR is that it is the brain itself that provides the healing that the person needs. The best part of EMDR, and having seen many successful cases in my private practice, is that healing is attained in a faster way, and has lasting effects, more than any other approach, which makes it a jewel in the world of psychotherapy waiting to be popularized more.
