What is EMDR Therapy

EMDR therapy was developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro, a psychologist, in 1987. It uses bilateral or dual attention to help our brains process trauma, release negative beliefs (cognitions) about ourselves, and create new positive beliefs (cognitions).

So, what does all of this really mean? Well, imagine you’re at Target. You pick up paper towels, bananas and apples and go the checkout counter, buy your products and go home. This was just a normal trip and your brain processes the memories of this trip and puts them away, most likely into long term storage. A month later, when someone asks you what you bought at Target, you may say, “Just the regular stuff. I don’t really remember the details of it.” Now imagine that same trip to Target, but there was an earthquake while you were shopping. It was scary-people started screaming in terror and panicking and you ran out of the store, crying and upset. Your brain isn’t going to process this in the same way as your other trip to Target.

When something challenging or scary happens to us (think trauma-PTSD or C-PTSD), it filters through the brain with an emotion, a sensation, a belief and an image associated with it. That memory gets stuck and we can’t process it. And that begins to impact our day to day life and affects our thoughts, our moods and behaviors. When we use EMDR, we can reprocess the upsetting memories by identifying a belief, an image, an emotion and a body sensation associated with the memory. When we access this, EMDR helps the brain in finishing the processing of the memory until it can be stored away in its proper place and no longer upset or rattle us. The memory can be placed in long term storage. EMDR therapy also involves initial assessment of what the client wants to “target” and which beliefs they want to work on changing. Cognitive Behavioral therapy helps us with changing our thoughts and is like cutting the stems or vines off of a plant or tree. EMDR therapy is like taking the whole root of the plant out, so that it can’t regrow.

So, what can EMDR therapy help with? It can help with trauma, anxiety, people pleasing and even with grief. It helps with anything that we get “stuck” on-whether that be a thought, an experience, a memory, a way of acting, grief and so much more. EMDR therapy can even help us create new positive beliefs about ourselves and help us create an image and a feeling of who we want to be in the future. EMDR has come a long way. It’s a comprehensive treatment that can help clients with so many different things. If you want to learn more, please check out: www.emdria.omeka.net or emdrfoundation.org