EMDR Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing
What is EMDR?
The mind can often heal itself naturally, in the same way as the body does. Much of this natural coping mechanism occurs during sleep, particularly during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. EMDR Uses this natural process in order to successfully treat Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and a wide range of problems.
However, when something out of the ordinary occurs and you are traumatised by an overwhelming event (e.g. a car accident) or by being repeatedly subjected to distress (e.g. childhood neglect), your natural coping mechanism can become overloaded. This overloading can result in disturbing experiences remaining frozen in your brain or being "unprocessed". It is believed that EMDR helps to process trauma or disturbing experiences by creating the connections between your brain’s memory networks, enabling your brain to process the traumatic memory in a very natural way.
What is an EMDR session like?
After a thorough assessment, you will be asked specific questions about a particular disturbing memory. Using sets of taps (tapping) eye movements, or beeps via headphones or hand held buzzers are used to facilitate bilateral stimulation. After each set you will then be asked to report back on the experiences you have had during each of the sets. Experiences during a session may include changes in thoughts, images and feelings.
Clients usually report back feeling a reduction in symptoms and disturbing imagery, improvement in mood and concentration