What is EMDR?

EMDR postulates that all human beings have an in-built adaptive system that strives towards health, that is, it naturally seeks the processing of experiences, healing and learning.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a psychological intervention first developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro in the mid-eighties that is now widely used by counsellors and psychotherapists. Although EMDR was initially developed for the treatment of psychological trauma it is now backed by a body of on-going research evidencing its effectiveness for a variety of psychological issues.

The mind, like the body, has a natural tendency towards healing. This is the theoretical basis of EMDR therapy and it is referred to as the Adaptive Information Processing system or AIP Model.

A unique feature of EMDR is bi-lateral stimulation of the brain from left to right, achieved, among other means, by moving the eyes from side to side, tapping, sounds, etc. Bilateral stimulation is a fundamental part of an 8 phase standard protocol developed by Dr. Shapiro. Through this protocol the therapist supports individuals to use their symptoms as the entry point for reprocessing the traumatic experience and for changing what they wish to change. EMDR is like a searchlight that finds and activates the individual’s frozen fragments of the memory of an experience and allows them to re-unite and weave a more coherent, wholesome and historical narrative of the experience that can then be properly located in the past and made available to conscious and deliberate coherent recall. However, although the memory stays available to conscious recall, it loses its intensity, omnipresence and negative grip on the individual’s nervous system. This allows individuals to build up or return to a state where they have the capacity to function, relate with others and feel better. Furthermore, processing trauma can lead to individuals being able to turn their traumatic experience round and find new strengths out of the now processed distress; this is because something that had previously been victimizing is now accessible to be used as a source of learning, creativity and growth. 

FURTHER INFORMATION ON EMDR

For more information on EMDR see the website of UKEMDR Association:  www.emdrassociation.org.uk

For information on trauma visit the website of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation: www.isst-d.org