What is EMDR?

 

EMDR is a form of psychotherapy that heals traumatic memories and reduces triggers in the present and future.  It can also be used to reduce certain forms of chronic pain. 

 

 

How does EMDR work?

 

To heal a traumatic memory, we need to do two things.  First, we need to desensitize the memory so that it is no longer overwhelming.  We are then able to make new meaning of, or reprocess, the memory from a place of safety in the present, rather than the sense of overwhelm with which we may have first experienced it.  It turns out that if you alternately stimulate the left and right-hand sides of the brain, it helps with this desensitizing and reprocessing.  This can be done using: alternating left and right eye-movements; alternately tapping on the left and right-hand sides of the body; or with alternating left and right audio tones using headphones.  Hence, this approach to psychotherapy is called Eye-Movement, Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR.

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While originally developed to heal traumatic memories, EMDR can also be helpful for many chronic, ‘stuck’ issues, including anxiety, depression, phobias, as well as reducing some forms of chronic pain.

 

 

How can EMDR reduce pain?

 

It is normal to hold emotional stress in the body as some form of physical tension.  Meanwhile, tension makes most pain worse.  For example, we avoid clenching our jaw when we have a toothache.  EMDR can help reduce stress, thereby reducing physical tension.  This can lessen some forms of pain. 

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It is important to acknowledge that EMDR does not treat the underlying medical or physical causes of pain, but it can help reduce the psychological component of pain as well as provide clients with techniques to help better manage pain.

 

 

How long does EMDR take?

 

EMDR psychotherapy is an organic process.  In the course of doing EMDR it is common to discover issues underlying whatever brought you to therapy.  As a result, it is not possible to predict how long EMDR treatment will take.  What we can say is that most people experience some degree of relief within the first few months of treatment. 

 

 

To Learn More about EMDR

 

Getting Past Your Past: Take Control of Your Life with Self-Help Techniques from EMDR Therapy by Francine Shapiro (2012).  The first book about EMDR written by the founder of EMDR for a general audience.  Also an excellent introduction to trauma and tools for recovery.

 

Every Memory Deserves Respect: The Proven Trauma Therapy with the Power to Heal (2021) by Michael Baldwin and Deborah Korn.  A unique introduction to trauma recovery and EMDR that alternates between the first-person narrative of a trauma survivor and accessible commentary by an expert in the field.

 

For an overview of the research that has been conducted over the past several decades on using EMDR for a variety of applications as well as its theoretical underpinnings, go here.