What is EMDR?
This is the first in a series of brief posts I’m writing to answer some of the most common questions I get about EMDR. This is one of my top therapy tools, and it’s pretty different from your typical talk therapy so it’s natural for there to be a lot of questions. I certainly had TONS of them when I was being trained in the technique. Knowledge is power and I’m excited to lay out all of the info I want people to know when considering EMDR one question at a time. Today we’ll be starting with a simple what the heck is EMDR anyways?
EMDR stand for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It was first created in 1987 by Dr. Francine Shapiro, a research psychologist. The first study investigating its effectiveness was published in 1989 and the first trainings in the method were offered to licensed mental health professionals in 1990. Dr. Shapiro often spoke about inventing EMDR while on a walk in the woods. While on her walk Dr. Shapiro described how she was thinking about a painful memory and realized she felt less upset about it by the end of the walk. Now if this had been me, I would have figured I felt better due to being in nature and getting some exercise, however, Dr. Shapiro’s mind works a lot differently. Instead, she thought it was because her eyes were moving back and forth, attracted to the light filtering through the tress. She starting testing this theory that eye movements help us to process difficult things and it turned out her theory was correct! Since that time more research has validated that this method works, and now EMDR is even one of the few evidence based treatments approved for use at VA clinics to support service members with PTSD.
All that is to say that EMDR uses what’s called bi-lateral stimulation- moving your eyes, feeling taps, or hearing tones until a traumatic or difficult past experience stops impacting you in a negative way. EMDR helps people work through their painful feelings, connect with positive beliefs about themselves and even let go of body sensations related to past experiences that have kept them stuck.
When I first learned EMDR I thought this all sounded like the weirdest technique ever and believed it could never work. How could moving your eyes in their very specific protocol help anything? But the organization I worked for invested a lot of money in getting me trained, and the research on it was pretty sound so I figured I might as well try it out, assuming it was unlikely to work and probably not a good fit for me. Much to my surprise I fond it really did work and I was helping people transform in deeper ways than I’d ever experienced in the past. There’s no such thing as magic in therapy, and its all hard work, but EMDR has been life changing for so many people.
Stay tuned for more posts on the theories behind EMDR, what its like to do EMDR and who EMDR is a good fit for. If you have more questions or are curious if EMDR might be right for you feel free to reach out below: