Have you ever found yourself acting in a way that sincerely surprised you? Have you felt unaware of why an experience bothered you so much? It could be baffling to try to understand it and so we quite naturally discard it or explain it away as being about the other person or event.
Though perhaps unsettling, if we become curious enough to look underneath those responses we may find an avenue to explore in gaining self-understanding and improved ways of relating to others.
EMDR or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing is a modality designed to help clients move through old and disturbing events so that it integrates into their system. It is evidenced based and is considered a useful platform for those experiencing anxiety, depression, PTSD, chronic pain and other distressing issues.
Essentially, it addresses a past experience that hasn’t fully reached completion in our bodies and minds. An experience feels complete when a reminder in the environment no longer elicits disturbing unconscious and involuntary mental, physical and/or emotional distress. We all have these experiences.
Perhaps we start with an interaction with a friend or colleague, an image, or even a dream that leaves behind enough residue in our system that it signals to us there may be more to uncover. Most of us prefer to have clear communication in our relationships so we may feel internally motivated and eager to explore this.
The key ingredient to this approach is that we are bringing up a memory, image, symptom or issue while maintaining recognition that it is not currently occuring. During the session, the therapist is monitoring our ability to tolerate the reprocessing, so we do not experience overwhelm. This is very important. We are guided and repeatedly reminded how to orient ourselves to the present moment. This convinces us that the contents of what we are experiencing is no longer occurring in the present, but simply a memory from the past.
After a series of sessions, we may discover that these experiences have loosened within us. The charge previously felt is more conscious, less abrasive, and feels neutral to us. It is hard to believe how significant a change some clients feel when they commit some time and work to exploring this very useful modality in therapy.
As we make sense of the experience with our adult faculties, we discover a more empowered and balanced stance. This explains how we are “uncoupling” the memory and releasing its bind to a young and uninformed belief about it. This memory can get locked in the nervous system creating distress, much like a physical injury continues to cause pain when we haven’t initiated a more functional pattern.
We use Bilateral Stimulation (BLS) to unlock the nervous system and allow the body and mind to process the unconscious material during the sessions. BLS is facilitated by one of a few options: the client can follow the therapist’s two fingers in the air with their eyes, hold sensors that emit a gentle dual stimulation, or receive tapping on the knees. The client just allows whatever wants to happen, to happen during the session.
If I could emphasize any one point it would be this:
we are restoring integrity to the system so that it is able to see the full picture.
An incomplete experience, is fragmented, and may be continually looping. It is seeking resolution and will continue to find life experiences in order to relieve the amount of energy that is required to remain fragmented. We can think of our systems as wise and ultimately, conservation-minded.
EMDR is an 8 Phase therapy with resources acquired in each phase, which prove necessary in order to proceed to the next phase. I appreciate the structured protocol inherent in this approach as it ensures the client remains in control the whole time.
It is the client’s brain and imagination reworking the event in a container of guidance, heightened communication, attention and attunement to pace. At any time, the client can pause the process, or stop and finish entirely, or come back to it at a later session.
The end product is that the client can still remember the memory but without all the emotional charge that was previously behind it.
When we harness the immeasurable ability for the brain to assist us in discovering stability, safety and joy again in our lives, we have contributed to a more peaceful environment for everyone.
Feel free to make contact and ask any questions about the process of experiencing EMDR therapy. I am happy to meet for a 30 minute, free consultation at the Boulder Healing Hub to see if this therapy or perhaps an abridged version may be a good fit for you.
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