Andrew Kilburn Psychotherapy

Information about Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR)

For over a decade, 'eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing' has been gaining attention and momentum as an effective therapeutic tool for treating a range of trauma and phobic disorders, depression, recurrent nightmares and grief. A trauma is any event that has had a lasting negative effect; that is, an experience that causes one to develop erroneous beliefs about oneself or the world and to behave in ways that are not skilful. We all know people who have lost jobs, loved ones, even possessions and have truly suffered as a result. When you lose your peace of mind, or if you never had it, there can be serious physical and psychological consequences no matter what the cause. These experiences become fixed in the body-mind in the form of irrational emotions, blocked energy, and physical symptoms. Regardless of the "triggers", the causes are generally found in earlier life experiences. We call these experiences traumas. Traumas often lead to debilitating symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), like nightmares, flashbacks, anxieties, phobias, fears, and difficulties at home and work.

Anxiety, stress, guilt, rage, and fear are extremely unhealthy if they are long-lasting. Fortunately, the body uses a process similar to digestion in order to resolve upsetting experiences. The mind, when functioning properly, extracts useful information from our experiences. What we learn from this information allows us to move forward. When upsetting memories are processed, the related emotions, beliefs, body responses, and thoughts are transformed, becoming healthy and adaptive. Sometimes, though, negative experiences remain unresolved, leaving a residue of emotion to dominate our daily lives. The system becomes "stuck" and often requires assistance in order to get it moving smoothly again. This is where EMDR comes in.

EMDR is a therapeutic method, incorporating eye-movements and/or sound and tapping, and involving exposure to anxiety-evoking or emotionally distressing memories, thoughts and images.

Most people think that therapy involves only talking about problems. However, one aspect of EMDR is that you do not have to talk in detail about a trauma for it to be digested by your own mind and body. Rather than trying to talk through the problem, the processing occurs on a physiological level and allows new associations, insights, and emotions to emerge spontaneously. EMDR involves a very specific set of procedures to help this "digestive" function in the brain.

EMDR has been used with combat veterans, fire fighters, policemen, and emergency service workers. Natural disasters, combat, accidents, catastrophic illnesses, and loss of a loved one can result in a diagnosis of PTSD. More prevalent are those experiences that make us feel unsafe, unloved, without control or hope, humiliated, failures or loss of any kind. Regardless of how tough a person might be the bottom line is that the memories of disturbing experiences can be stored in the wrong form in the mind. The resulting intrusive thoughts, bad dreams, disturbing emotions, and unpleasant sensations are all products of a physical problem that can be helped without resorting to alcohol or drugs to mask the pain. EMDR enables the rapid processing and release of traumatic memories and painful emotion.