A Personal Experience with EMDR : Learning to Cope with Strong Emotions

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is based on a belief that many psychological problems are caused by incomplete or incorrect information processing. A trained therapist identifies possible triggers for abnormal behaviors, e.g. visual images or negative beliefs, and uses EMDR to guide the patient through reprocessing of the trigger. EMDR has been effective in treating post-traumatic stress from combat, rape, or auto accidents. It can also be used to treat other kinds of emotional distress.

Although EMDR requires careful attention and great skill on the part of the therapist, it is fairly simple for the patient. Reprocessing involves thinking about the trigger while experiencing "dual stimulation." Dual stimulation can take the form of guided eye movements, taps alternating between the right and left sides of the body, or a device held by the patient that vibrates alternately in the right or left hand. As a layman, my understanding is that the dual stimulation causes both the right and left sides of the brain to be stimulated. Thus a memory that has been stored only as strong negative emotion can be reprocessed by the logical part of the brain during EMDR.

Over a series of office visits, the therapist guides a patient by systematically identifying triggers and reprocessing them. During the time of remembering and external physical stimulus, the typical patient moves from emotional distress to a state of different understanding or insight about the trigger. For example, a therapist may guide a rape victim from the dysfunctional "I should have done something differently..." to the more constructive "It wasn't my fault. I did nothing wrong." The patient should be monitored frequently during the early stages of EMDR therapy in case strong emotional reactions occur. Over the course of therapy, new triggers may surface as old ones are reprocessed. Therapy continues until patient and therapist are satisfied with the results.

Because EMDR has a physiological basis, it works even if the patient is skeptical. The patient need only consent to cooperate with the therapist. As one with an engineering background, I approached my therapist skeptically. I had a practical concern, i.e. "Just fix it!" My therapist gave me a book about EMDR to read before my first session. He told me he knew he could not trick me into feeling better and assured me that EMDR could help me process my pain logically.

At my first session I expressed fear that if I let my pain out, the pain would never stop. The therapist promised me the pain would not last forever. I looked him in the eye and said, "You better be right!" He smiled and began the session. I was amazed. After remembering something that triggered a torrent of tears, I moved from pain and a mistaken belief to a logical understanding of the trigger. Over several sessions, I resolved many unresolved issues and was able to function better even in stressful situations. I see EMDR as a way of fixing my internal programming; if you give a computer (or a brain) faulty programming, you will not get the right results. The solution is to find the faulty code and replace it with the correct code.

Disclaimer: The information in this article is based on my personal experience. My hope is to make people aware of EMDR and its possible benefits. You should consult a physician or mental health professional to find out if eye movement desensitization and reprocessing may be helpful in any particular situation.

Reference:

EMDR Institute, Inc. A Brief Description of EMDR. http://www.emdr.com/faqs.html accessed March 9, 2011.