Demystifying EMDR
Written by Michele Dial, LPC
EMRD?
EDMR?
EMDR!
This confusion is a common start to a conversation about EMDR. The acronym is a bit lengthy and the full name is a mouthful! EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. Whew! Try saying that five times fast!
So, what the heck does all of that mean?
Basically, we use back-and-forth eye movements or other forms of alternating stimuli. This might include tapping to reduce sensitivity to traumatizing experiences in your life. This is also known as desensitization. It will help your mind reconfigure the way you think about them (reprocessing). The goal is not to erase a memory. The goal is to lessen its impact on your daily living. This aims to file the incident away in the past so that you’re not reliving it over and over in the present.
Starting to make sense?
Let’s start at the beginning. Dr. Francine Shapiro, psychotherapist extraordinaire, discovered and developed EMDR in 1987. Amid some personal distress, Dr. Shapiro headed out for a walk. She noticed that her side-to-side eye movements seemed to be subduing her distress. This event piqued her curiosity. She dove headlong into research which has continued over decades with many subjects. Many other studies including her own found that eye movements decrease a person’s anxious response to traumatic memories. Once the intense emotional response stops, the mind can then shift how we perceive an event.
What’s so special about eye movements?
Side-to-side eye movements are a form of bilateral stimulation. This means the left and right sides of the brain engage when the eyes move across the center line between them. In fact, your brain already engages in this process almost every night during sleep. This is the phenomenon of REM sleep or Rapid Eye Movement sleep. Did you know that while you’re sleeping, your brain is hard at work sorting through all the day’s input?
Your Brain’s Filing System
Sleep researchers study brain waves while a person is sleeping. These researchers track cycles in brain activity and body function. It's believed that the heightened brain wave activity during REM sleep indicates this sleep cycle is where most dreaming occurs. Data processing and memory consolidation also likely occurs during this time. The brain’s filing system sorts through all the info and experiences that we’ve encountered that day. This system determines what to keep and what to throw away. The keepers become knowledge and memories that get stored in the right areas of the brain. Then, the rest gets forgotten.
Disruptions in the System
At times, something so disturbing or unsettling happens that the brain’s natural filing system gets disrupted. As a result, it is unable to appropriately process the incident into a memory. Instead, the incident gets frozen in the nervous system. This includes all the original sensations and emotions as well. Our bodies can carry these unprocessed experiences with us for years, even decades. Oftentimes, these experiences continue to plague us in the present. We may even develop negative beliefs about ourselves to cope with the trauma.
EMDR is believed to replicate the eye movements of REM sleep. When we engage in EMDR , we light up the memory we are working with. Your EMDR therapist invokes all the sights, sensations, and emotions that come with it. We use EMDR therapy to jumpstart the brain’s filing system and help it reprocess the memory. This lessens the distress response to the memory and reduces negative beliefs about oneself. Then, we work to instill a new, positive belief about the self.
As you can imagine, bringing all the components of this experience to light can be distressing in itself. So, before we begin the desensitization and reprocessing component, we do lots of prep.
We assess a person’s
Support network
Internal strengths
Resources
Capacity for accessing memories while staying grounded in the present.
We also help each client develop tools for grounding and self-soothing. With these, he or she can manage any heightened distress between sessions. We use slower eye movements to help strengthen the effectiveness of some of these tools. This also helps you get comfortable with them before we dig into the harder stuff.
So how exactly do we start EMDR therapy?
An EDMR therapist will sit slightly off-center to you and raise 2 fingers in front of your eyes, a comfortable distance from you. They will be far enough away for personal comfort and close enough so your eyes can follow their fingers. The therapist will then move their fingers back and forth across your sightline. They will ask you to follow their fingers with your eyes, not turning your head. Imagine watching a ping pong game and following the ball with only your eyes. We want to make sure that your eyesight moves across the bridge of your nose to the edge of your periphery on both sides. If there are physical limitations that prevent a therapist from using fingers to guide eye movements, they can use other tools instead like a light bar or a computer video.
If you get tearful, tired, or have any other difficulties with eye movements, we have other options. Several of my clients find tactile pulsars effective. Plus, there is the bonus of having a calming, soothing effect. Clients hold one pulsar in each hand, and I turn the pulsars on and off for each set. The pulsars vibrate in an alternating pattern. This replicates the bilateral stimulation of eye movements. Other options include clients tapping on the tops of their knees or opposite shoulders (the butterfly hug). Self-tapping can even be used for group EMDR. Audio stimulation is also an option. Using headphones, a beeping tone alternates from ear to ear. Research shows that eye movements are tapping are the most effective mechanisms. But, audio stimulation is particularly effective with chronic pain.
Can you do EMDR online?
Yes! All these options are available for remote or virtual EMDR sessions. And, with slight changes, if need be. Self-tapping is a common option, and we also have accommodations for eye movements.
If you still have more questions about EMDR, feel free to email me. I’m happy to chat with you and answer any questions you may have.
You can also find more information about EMDR on these helpful websites:
EMDR International Association
Begin EMDR in Houston, TX
You don’t have to be held back by traumatic memories. An EMDR therapist can provide support from our Houston, TX-based counseling practice. To start your therapy journey, follow these simple steps:
Contact our practice to set up a free consult
Meet with a caring therapist
Begin EMDR therapy and overcome past trauma
Other Services Offered At Heights Family Counseling
Michele offers a variety of mental health services for adults at our Houston Heights Therapy Clinic. Her mental health services include adult therapy, depression treatment, anxiety treatment, therapy for stress and burnout, trauma treatment and EMDR, and counseling for life transitions. She also offers online therapy in Texas to meet your mental health needs when you can’t make it in person. To learn more, please contact our counseling office or read her bio.