What is EMDR Therapy?
One of my methods is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. EMDR is an evidence-based mental health treatment technique. It can be used to treat symptoms of emotional trauma related to birth, fertility, loss, parenthood, and childhood as well as various distressing experiences throughout your life.
EMDR was developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro. Dozens of clinical trials have demonstrated that the technique is effective and can often help faster than talk therapy or other more traditional methods.
EMDR therapy does not involve talking about the details of a traumatic event or distressing experiences. Instead, we focus on processing the information associated with the traumatic event or distressing experience; the thoughts, emotions, body sensations, and behaviors that result from these events or experiences.
EMDR therapy uses stimulation of both sides of the body, such as eye movements or tapping, to activate the parts of the brain that are associated with a distressing experience. This allows the brain to reprocess that specific experience and, finally, to integrate all of the information associated with it. It is our brain's natural way of processing information and occurs during the rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep.
The Adaptive Information Processing Model
EMDR therapy is based on the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model. This is a theory about how our brains store memories.
Memories are stored in associative memory networks in our brains. These memory networks form the basis of our perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors. Normally, the purpose of these networks is to integrate our internal and external experiences throughout our lives.
However, our brains store normal and distressing (or traumatic) memories quite differently.
When normal events occur, our brains store them smoothly in our memory networks by processing them, that is, by connecting them to things we remember.
When an emotionally-distressing event or trauma occurs, it disrupts this normal information processing. This results in unprocessed information being stored in our memory networks in a way that is not helpful and does not allow for emotional healing.
If your brain never has the opportunity to process this information adaptively, it won't receive the message the threat is over.