What is EMDR Therapy?

EMDR is an acronym that stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. EMDR therapy is an extensively researched and effective psychotherapy method first developed by Francine Shapiro in the late 1980s. It has been proven to help people recover from distressing life events and trauma, including accidents, abuse, betrayal, addictions, and many others.

A large number of national and global organizations recognize the effectiveness of EMDR, including:

• American Psychological Association
• American Psychiatric Association
• International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies
• National Alliance on Mental Illness
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
• U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs/Department of Defense
• The World Health Organization

Most commonly, EMDR is known to be a treatment for PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. While PTSD is typically associated with combat veterans or first responders, trauma can be caused in many different ways. These ways can include childhood bullying, name-calling, life-threatening events, broken relationships, abuse, job losses, and more.

EMDR has developed into a set of standardized protocols that include elements from several different treatment methodologies. EMDR must be done with a properly trained and licensed mental health clinician.

How does EMDR help?

God has created our brains to naturally recover from traumatic memories or events. However, in our broken world, that process gets hijacked, and we are not able to naturally move the highly charged memories into an acceptable state. We recall them over and over again, experiencing emotional dysregulation, resulting in symptoms including depression, anxiety, stress, and fear.

When we experience an event our brain uses a process that involves communication between our amygdala (the alarm center for stressful events and overall well-being), our hippocampus (the brain’s filing cabinet that helps with learning, and storing memories about safety and danger), and our prefrontal cortex (which analyzes and attempts to control behaviors and emotions).

In a traumatic experience, this process is interrupted, leaving emotions disconnected from the memory of the event, and how our bodies react, creating dissociated reactions, dreams, flashbacks, stress, and emotional dysregulation.

EMDR therapy helps the brain process these disparate components and allows the brain’s natural healing process to resume. Once completed, the dysregulated thoughts and emotions that cause a fight, flight, or freeze response are resolved while the memory of the event remains.

Traumatic events can often be difficult to discuss and, in some cases, even remember. If severe enough, our brains will completely “forget” an event in order to self-regulate. Although specific details of the event may be unclear, the emotional reaction and effects on our lives remain.

EMDR therapy does not require a detailed discussion of the event but allows the brain to bring the pieces together and discharge the associated emotional and cognitive reactions through its natural healing process. By allowing the brain to work through its process, a person can experience memories but not be controlled by them, and realize the memories are in the past.

Treatment

It is important to understand that EMDR therapy is more than just eye movement. EMDR therapy includes 8 phases. These phases are:

Phase 1: History and Treatment Planning
Phase 2: Preparation
Phase 3: Assessment
Phase 4: Desensitization
Phase 5: Installation
Phase 6: Body Scan
Phase 7: Closure
Phase 8: Reevaluation

The eye movement part of the treatment, also known as Bilateral Stimulation (BLS), occurs during Phases 4, 5, 6, and 7. Bilateral Stimulation can include eye movement, sounds, or tapping. Eye movement can be accomplished by watching a therapist’s fingers move back and forth in your field of vision, or they can use other devices like pointers or light bars.

Sounds are brief tones that go back and forth in a headset worn by the client. Tapping can include actual tapping on a client’s hands or knees or using small vibrating devices in each hand. Again, the sensation creates a back-and-forth process that allows the brain to integrate the left and right hemispheres of the brain, stimulating the natural healing process.

Other terms associated with EMDR that are important to be familiar with are:

Target This is the traumatic or disturbing event that is often associated with the emotional disturbance that brings a client in. Regardless of how many, each one will be addressed.

Subjective Unit of Disturbance (SUD) This is a scale from 0 (no disturbance) to 10 (extremely high disturbance) that measures the emotional disturbance in conjunction with the memory of an event.

Negative belief When a traumatic event occurs in our lives, the resulting experience creates a negative self-belief that we associate either with the actual event or the emotions that the event created. These negative beliefs sound like “I am worthless.” “I am unlovable,” “I am helpless,” “I am bad,” “I am not enough,” “I am stupid,” “I am in danger,” etc. These negative beliefs are a part of the intensity of the SUD.

Positive belief Once the negative belief is identified, a positive belief is chosen that is typically the opposite. This belief is often completely contrary to what it felt like at the time, but is the therapeutic goal despite the associated memory. These beliefs include “I am worthwhile,” “I am lovable,” “I can make safe choices,” “I am enough,” “I am safe now,” etc.

Validity of Cognition (VOC) This is also a scale that rates the positive belief from 1 (completely false) to 7 (completely true). It is important to give a score that reflects how one “feels,” not “thinks,” in relation to the positive belief and the traumatic event. We may know something is in the past, but how it feels when we recall it is what trauma and EMDR are about.

Body scan When a person experiences a traumatic event, in addition to the emotional impact, studies have suggested that the traumatic memory is stored in what is called motoric memory or the body system. Often, we can feel the trauma, especially if it was originally physical.

Therefore, part of the EMDR process includes identifying and processing the sensations in the body associated with a target. An EMDR session is not considered complete until the original target event can be recalled without feeling any bodily tension.

How does EMDR help with anxiety and depression?

Anxiety and depression are the most common emotional responses to some level of trauma we have experienced. Again, trauma can be a “Big T” trauma such as a life-threatening event, disaster, rape, assault, combat, or accident. “Little t” traumas can be bullying, verbal abuse, loss of relationship, financial or job-related losses, family of origin dynamics, etc.

“Little t”  traumas can often feel like “Big T” traumas, but typically do not have the life-threatening aspect to them. Either way, the trauma creates an emotional, cognitive, and often physical dysregulation that can affect aspects of our daily lives in the present.

The negative beliefs that occupy our thinking will often create the anxiety or depression we are feeling. By addressing the negative beliefs, EMDR can help to associate positive cognitions as well as separate the past dysregulating events from the present to build a more hope-filled future without anxiety and/or depression.

Are there downsides?

Because EMDR is addressing traumatic memories, there will necessarily be quite strong and intense emotions involved. A well-trained EMDR therapist will address this with the client in the Preparation phase of the process. It is important to know the client is always in control of the process and can stop EMDR if the emotions are too intense.

Although EMDR may produce results more rapidly than other forms of therapy, speed is not the goal, and it is important to remember that every client has different needs, tolerances, and strengths.

Due to the variable emotions and the complexities of trauma, great caution needs to be exercised when considering EMDR online. The obvious challenges with technology, coupled with the potential need for more direct interaction when dealing with “Big T” traumas, can be problematic. Again, the therapist needs to be trained, licensed, and comfortable with the modality, whether in person or online.

Biblical Aspects of EMDR

EMDR is not specifically mentioned in the Bible. However, He is completely aware of the effects of sin and the brokenness of the human heart. Therefore, EMDR can be used as a guide to help create a faith-based treatment plan that brings healing and wholeness.

Many times during the course of EMDR, God or Jesus appears during the trauma memory and becomes the basis for recreating the negative belief into a more hopeful and positive belief in oneself, our world, and in God.

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. – Psalm 34:18, NASB

If you would like to find out more information about EMDR, visit the EMDR International Association’s website at www.emdria.com. You can also search for a licensed, trained, and certified therapist in your area.