What is EMDR?
Even as an EMDR trainer, this can be difficult to answer. First thing’s first, after 10 years of using Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), it works!
When I initially heard about EMDR, I was working at Genesis Women’s Shelter & Support and I thought the whole thing sounded a little woo-woo to me. People already have ideas about therapists being weirdos and I was not up for reinforcing that stereotype.
What changed my mind had to do with helping my clients. I was seeing a plateau being reached in only the use of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), AKA, “talk therapy” with my clients. I was stumped in how to support clients to make changes when the beliefs and ideas about themselves had been created in early childhood. No amount of “talk” was going to change that feeling or body sensation that came up every time there was a trigger.
I was desperate! One of my clients was interested in EMDR, but she did not have a relationship with the therapist at Genesis that was trained at the time. This client asked that I be in the room as a support while she participated in EMDR.
Y’all, I became a believer!
This client that I had worked with for years was able to make changes after only a few sessions of EMDR. I got trained with the amazing Rick Levinson just over a month later.
EMDR is different than any of therapy in that, in addition to thoughts and feelings, body sensations are also desensitized. The way that EMDR accesses a client holistically is by using bilateral stimulation of their brain. Hang with me here, I know this sounds strange. By using eye movements, tapping or paddles that buzz back in forth in a client’s hands, both sides of the brain are engaged. This is similar to what happens naturally in our brain during REM sleep.
Our brains want to heal just like any other part of our body that is harmed. Because of that, with a specific focus on an event, trauma, or negative belief, our smart brains connect this to a memory network. So, if I grow up in an abusive home and my meta belief as a result is “I am bad,” you can imagine that this impacts every single aspect of my life. If I can “target” this belief using EMDR, my brain will wade through every example, feeling, or trauma that upholds that negative belief and reprocess it until I no longer buy into that idea. This is also called desensitization.
Everyone deserves that kind of relief! I would encourage anyone interested to reach out to us at The Haven Wellness Center to learn more about EMDR at info@thehavenwellnesscenter.com. We believe in this modality so much that 2 of us became EMDR trainers. If you are a therapist interested in our next EMDR Basic Training, reach out to us as well. There is also great information at www.emdria.org/about-emdr-therapy/
Until we see you,
Kelly & The Haven Team
