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EMDR is an acronym for Eye Movement
Desensitization and Reprocessing. It is an innovative clinical treatment
that has successfully helped over a million individuals worldwide. The
focus of EMDR treatment is the
resolution of distress arising from difficult childhood experiences such
as sexual or physical abuse, or the recovery from the effects of critical
incidents, such as automobile accidents, industrial accidents, assault,
trauma in the workplace, and natural disasters.
Other problems treated with EMDR are
phobias, panic attacks, depression, addictions, chronic pain and
self-esteem issues. Another innovative focus of
EMDR is performance enhancement which helps to improve the
functioning of people at work, in the performing arts, and in sports.
EMDR WITH TRAUMATIC
EXPERIENCES
It is currently believed that
disturbing childhood experiences or traumatic experiences as an adult,
have been stored in memory without sufficient processing, so that they are
stored in a lower part of the brain and have not been processed up to the
neo-cortex or higher part of the brain as with other memories. When these
disturbing experiences are brought to mind, or are stimulated by an event
in your current life that is similar in some way to the original event, it
is very disturbing - there can be disturbing images, emotions, physical
sensations, and thoughts of the original event.
This is because the "fight or
flight" reaction gets activated just as it did in the original experience
and so all the accompanying sensations and feelings come that have not
been fully processed.
Reprocessing these experiences with EMDR can allow you to process the
difficult images, emotions, and sensations so that when you think of these
incidents they will no longer feel disturbing to you. It allows you to see
the original situations clearly without any negative beliefs about
yourself.
EMDR is most often used in conjunction
with other therapeutic approaches and involves combining eye movements or
other forms of stimulation such as bi-lateral tapping of the knees or
bi-lateral music to assist the brain in the necessary processing.
EMDR - AN EXAMPLE
An
example might be a person who has been in a car accident and is still
afraid to drive many months later. She is still seeing the truck that hit
her, hearing the sound of brakes and thinking that she will be
killed. Although it is irrational, she believes that it is her fault
because she knows this is a dangerous intersection even though she was
doing nothing wrong.
After successful EMDR, she no longer
hears the truck, or sees it hurtling toward her. "It just looks like a
truck." More importantly, she no longer believes that it was her fault;
this belief has been replaced by another more positive one - "I did the
best I could."
EMDR FOR PERFORMANCE
AND CREATIVITY ENHANCEMENT
EMDR can diminish performance blocks and anxieties the same way it
desensitizes traumatic stress reactions. This is because a performance or
creativity block is a reaction in a similar way to a trauma reaction - a
negative self belief has been stimulated from your past and then the same
deep part of the brain as with trauma, has stimulated the 'fight or
flight' reaction manifesting now as anxiety and/or shame. EMDR is one of
the very few methods that can change that negative programming and
neutralize the negative reaction pattern.
EMDR can also be used to 'install' positive programming for future tasks
and performances so it can increase self-confidence, enthusiasm,
creativity and quality of future work performance. It can enable you to
move beyond your current best to higher levels.
No matter what your field, EMDR can enhance creativity by helping unblock
any barriers of limiting beliefs or self images which can contribute to
feeling stuck and help you access your creative power and creative flow
naturally again. So it can be used with business clients as well as with
creative and performing individuals to deepen and enhance their work.
DOES IT WORK?
Fourteen controlled studies have shown that EMDR
is an effective treatment. It has been accepted as a standard form of
treatment by the American Psychological Association. The International
Society for Traumatic Stress has designated EMDR
as an effective treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
A
significant advantage of EMDR is that it accelerates treatment. One recent study showed that EMDR was about twice as effective in
half the time when compared to traditional treatment.
I
am a fully accredited EMDR
practitioner through the EMDR
Institute and would be happy to talk with you about this form of
treatment. |
