EMDR therapy.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
A well-researched, internationally recognised therapeutic approach that helps the brain process and release the negative effects of traumatic and stressful experiences.
What is EMDR?
EMDR, eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing, is a psychotherapeutic technique indicated for treating emotional difficulties caused by traumatic experiences such as war, natural disasters and violent attacks, as well as distressing events in childhood and stressful events in adult life.
EMDR is a complex psychotherapeutic technique that brings together elements of other schools, such as the psychodynamic approach, cognitive-behavioural psychotherapy and client-centred psychotherapy.
How does it work?
Bilateral stimulation
The eyes follow the therapist’s fingers, or sound cues or light tapping are used, alternating on the left and right sides of the body.
EMDR is a client-centred technique. It mobilises the mechanism of self-healing by stimulating the part of the brain responsible for the adaptive processing of information. Its effectiveness is thought to come from its direct influence on the brain’s neurophysiological mechanisms, with an analogy in the REM cycle (Rapid Eye Movements), the phase of sleep in which we dream and which integrates experience.
EMDR gives particular weight to the physiological components of emotional difficulties and works with them, while also taking into account negative beliefs, emotions and other distressing factors and symptoms. It helps the client feel and experience the traumatic memory at the root of their difficulties in a new, less distressing and more adaptive way.
The World Health Organization recommends EMDR in its guidelines for treating post-traumatic stress disorder.
What it is most often used for
PTSD and shocking trauma
Accidents, loss, violence or war experiences.
Everyday stress and “small traumas”
Chronic stress, low self-worth, relationship difficulties or rejection.
How the work unfolds
EMDR unfolds in eight phases. The pace is always adapted to you, and stability always comes first.
History and planning
We talk about your history and what brings you, and choose together the memories we will work with.
Preparation
Before processing we learn ways to calm and steady yourself, so you feel safe throughout.
Assessment
We identify the image of the memory, the belief about yourself that goes with it, the feelings, and where you feel them in your body.
Desensitisation
With bilateral stimulation the memory is processed, and the distress it carries gradually changes.
Installation
We strengthen the positive belief about yourself that you want to connect with the memory.
Body scan
We check whether any tension linked to the memory remains in your body.
Closure
Every session ends in a stable state, however far the processing has gone.
Re-evaluation
At the start of the next session we look at what has changed and how to go on.
History of the method
Dr. Francine Shapiro began structuring this technique in 1987, and in the years that followed confirmed its effectiveness in treating the trauma of Vietnam War veterans and survivors of sexual assault suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.