EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a technique that uses bilateral stimulation to treat trauma. In this final post, I will complete the explanation of EMDR, and provide an overview of the procedure.
Role of Abdominal Area
The abdominal area holds the highest number of emotional messengers (i.e. seratonin is manufactured in the stomach), but it is also the home base for our immune systems. This is why it’s important to eat well during times of stress. In addition, stressed people are more susceptible to becoming physically ill. Many people who have had stress for years they don’t recognize that their stomach hurts, they have bypassed the stomach. In contrast, the lung area has biggest conglomeration of feel good chemicals, this is why breathing and yoga are so great.
Origins of Depression
Making yourself do things you don’t want to do depletes your seratonin and can lead to depression. In addition, some people have a leaky gut where lining of stomach is not intact. In these cases, some proteins are going out into system and creating inflammation. This is hard on the brain and the body and creates depression.
Emotional Reaction is a Choice
The amygdala is like a bonfire. If you keep adding fuel to it, it will continue to be activated. When there is a stored danger, you will have flashes of associated negative feelings. It is what you do with this flash that counts. It is important not to become anxious about your reaction, this anxiety will make it worse. So, recognize it but turn it into a new piece of information, a new way of handling stress. For example, have a new thought such as, “I’m not feeling this for the reason I think.”
Process of Trauma
Traumatic emotional experiences have a lasting psychic effect. When we go into trauma state we freeze; we don’t process chemicals, we store them. This is meant to keep us safe, but our bodies don’t know the difference between Big T and little t; the difference between touching a hot stove and a painful breakup. Worse, traumas can “stack,” also known as “associative storage.” Meaning, a small thing could happen but it feels even worse because it reminds you of the original trauma. People who don’t process the original trauma fully are more susceptible to stacking.
AIP (Adaptive Information Processing) is the basis for EMDR. With a trauma, the past feels like it is present because the an event in the present has triggered the trauma. In reality, the present is a symptom not a cause. For example, poor self esteem is merely a symptom of a past trauma, i.e. an emotionally abusive parent.
Role of Sleep
At a certain stage of sleep you bring up stored emotions in order to process them. Dreams are created by your cognition trying to make sense of these stored emotions. At the end of sleep the stored emotions have been processed, and you don’t keep carrying them around and feeling awful. Therefore, REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep is one of the major ways the body processes emotions. However, if the emotions are too intense, the dream will be so horrific the person will wake up. If the person cannot sleep or dream then they cannot process the memories and they stay stuck in the body. This is why people under extreme stress or have had a trauma are unable to sleep.
In summary, EMDR works because it processes traumatic memories properly.
8 Phase Approach to EMDR
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History: take a really good client history; can take 2 weeks
- Preparation: teaching client coping skills and ways of caring for themselves if they get into a bad place
- Assessment: what is their level of upset? Where do you feel it in your body? How do you feel about yourself? (i.e.. “I am hopeless”)
- Desensitization: take the charge out of the trauma
- Installation: inserting a positive cognition, i.e., “I am capable,” “I am helpful to others”
- Body scan: have the client become aware of any areas of tension in the body. For example, you would ask the client to close their eyes, and then ask them if they feel tension anywhere in your body. Then, ask if they want to reduce that, do eye movements and breathe until body scan comes down to zero. They come home feeling fine.
- Closure: prepare for any abreaction that may happen between sessions. Instruct client not to be fearful, tell them for 3 days afterwards this process will continue, stuff will come up but it will be processed. Never send people home upset, make sure they are calm before they leave your office. Journaling can be very helpful for them in processing emotions, or in noting things that come up that they want to work on.
- Reevaluation: When they come back, bring up whatever they were working on and ask them if there are residual things that need to be dealt with. If not, then move onto a different issue.
Yours in the Joy of Knowledge,
Dr. Barbara LoFrisco
* All of this information is a result of Personal communication from Jane F. Dye, PhD, LMFT February 7, 2014 at the FMHCA annual conference in Lake Mary, FL on February 7, 2014.
