Brooke Hammond, MSW, LCSW, ATR

EMDR

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a treatment process that can help resolve painful events from the past that continue to have an impact on your life today. It is based on the idea that the human body and mind naturally want to work toward healing.

For example, imagine you have a cut on your hand. If you clean it, bandage it, and make sure it stays free of further injury it will naturally heal itself. You may have a scar or mark that reminds you of the cut later on, but it is not painful. Now imagine that you get a big piece of glass stuck in your hand and don't get it out. The wound won't be able to heal, it will continue to hurt, and everything you do with that hand will be painful. The glass will get caught on things as you go through your day, causing pain and keeping the wound from healing.

We can think of a traumatic or painful experience in this way. If not fully processed at the time, for whatever reason, it can continue to cause discomfort long after it has happened.

We have powerful instincts and defenses that kick in during traumatic experiences to help us survive the event. Sometimes these defenses become ingrained in our daily lives long after the trauma is over. These are initially very adaptive and necessary responses that can then become uncomfortable and disruptive. They can create patterns that limit our connections to people. These experiences need not be overwhelming traumas, but can also be painful or hurtful experiences that have shaped how we think of ourselves.

The brain naturally needs to make sense of the event and usually develops an irrational negative belief to explain it. This negative belief can spread like a weed through our psychological landscape and attach itself to other seemingly unrelated events. We may not even be aware of its existence.

Some common examples of irrational negative beliefs:

• I'm not good enough
• It's my fault
• I'm dirty
• I don't deserve love
• I didn't do enough
• I should have known better
• I'm not safe
• I cannot trust myself
• I am ugly (my body is hateful)

The EMDR process helps us locate the source of the irrational negative belief, reprocess it, and replace the negative belief with a positive belief about ourselves. This positive belief then spreads and attaches itself to new experiences, much like the old negative belief did. Imagine, for example, if your default belief about yourself was "I am capable" instead of "I am helpless".

EMDR involves gentle, guided lateral eye movements (or other forms of bilateral stimulation, such as alternating tones or tapping) that stimulate both hemispheres of the brain. The painful or traumatic memory is not erased, but rather, the "heat" associated with it goes away. So, you will still be able to recall the event, but you won't have the panic, anxiety, fear, stomach ache, shortness of breath, etc, that usually accompanies being reminded of the event.

EMDR can be an effective treatment for phobias, fears, anxiety, feeling "stuck", repeating patterns in relationships, and PTSD. It can also be used to improve confidence and performance in work, sports, and arts.