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EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing
In 1987, psychologist Dr. Francine Shapiro observed that her distressing
emotions were eliminated by the rapid movement of her eyes. Dr. Shapiro
continued to study this effect scientifically with colleagues and clients
experiencing traumatizing stress, particularly post-traumatic stress syndrome.
Many of us experience traumas that remain "frozen" in our brain, nervous
system, and sometimes, body. Since cutting edge science has discovered that
the "mind" resides outside of the brain, I personally believe these traumas are
also "frozen" in and contaminate our emotional, spiritual and energy systems.
This usually creates negative beliefs, which in turn, distort our self perception
of how we perceive what we are experiencing in the world. Since the
"hard-wiring" of the brain projects these inner realities onto the outside world,
we rarely have the opportunity to experience life for what it really is. This
phenomenon of projection causes us to see the world as we are, not as it really
is. Therefore we contain an abundance of repressed memories & beliefs in our
unconscious. Most people function using 10-20% conscious behavior and
80-90% unconscious behavior. EMDR assists one in uncovering the faulty,
underlying, negative beliefs about ourselves and the world, to alter our
behaviors and ultimately find happiness. We can do this by bringing the
dis-empowering beliefs to the conscious level and "unfreeze" the trauma; we
can then process it with empowering techniques of EMDR. EMDR can
empower a person to create positive and dynamic experiences in their life.
EMDR appears to work similarly to R.E.M. (rapid eye movement) phase of the
sleep cycle. One purpose of the REM dream state is to process material and
feelings. EMDR has the potential to process and desensitize the negative
thoughts, feelings and body sensations out of our system.
My personal, clinical experience with some clients is that it can be a safe and
effective way to process and eliminate anger and rage.
People often talk about therapy as being a way to "peel back the layers of the
onion". One colleague of mine describes EMDR like "opening the petals of an
artichoke and getting 'to the heart' of things."
Clients have reported that the intensity of the feelings at the event become
much less or are gone in most cases, and they experience themselves and life
in a "new way". Friends, family members and co-workers often give feedback
that they notice positive changes in clients as well.
Spiritual experiences can also evolve if the client is so inclined to be open to
that aspect of themselves and their journey.
It is estimated that approximately 1/2 million people of all ages have received
relief from distressful psychosocial conditions and situations through the use of
EMDR.
In 1995, Wilson, Becker and Tinker published research results in the Journal of
Consulting and Clinical Psychology. In the study, 80 subjects with post-
traumatic stress demonstrated a significantly decreased level of discomfort
after EMDR treaments.
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