5 “Best” Uses for EMDR Therapy
I’m a couples therapist in Tyler, Texas, but that’s not my only trick! I’ve also been working on training in EMDR therapy and, today, I’d like to talk about the 5 “best” uses for EMDR (all of this is my opinion, take it for what it’s worth). Chances are you will fall into one of these categories and can be helped by EMDR, but before I do that, it might be helpful for me to discuss what EMDR therapy is for those who have no idea what I’m talking about.
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing and was developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro in the late 80’s and early 90’s. By chance, she noticed some of her disturbing thoughts and memories lessened in intensity when her eyes moved back and forth rapidly. Out of curiosity, she studied this phenomenon in more depth and found that she was, in fact, correct and that this could be replicated in other people. After several studies EMDR was born as an empirically proven treatment for many different types of psychological issues. It sounds like magic, but the back and forth stimulation of both sides of our brain helps to activate the minds healing process. EMDR treatment not only activates this process but accelerates it as well, allowing for years of traumatic history to be processed in a matter of minutes. It really is a game changer in the realm of psychotherapy.
So, here are my top 5 uses for EMDR therapy:
Big “T” Trauma—these are singular or reoccurring traumatic events in a persons life where their life was in jeopardy. For example, a person who is in a horrific, life-threatening car accident. These events present substantial issues in the quality of life for the person. Things like flashbacks, phobias, or other life altering disturbances are frequent and make life every difficult on a daily basis. Frequently, people with these experiences have PTSD and/or other psychological issues from the event/s. EMDR helps to process these memories and disturbances in a safe and structured environment and, frequently, in small steps that make the process more do-able for the person. Additionally, EMDR does NOT require that the person “re-live” the event or require them to tell the full story to their therapist resulting in re-traumatization. This is it’s highest and best use.
Small “t” trauma—these are events that happen to almost everyone over the lifespan. For example, getting fired from a job (yep, this is me). Frequently, these are issues that were not life threatening, but did leave a mark on you that you carry around almost all the time. These events carry forward and impact your life in ways that are harder to notice, but are very real, nonetheless. Things like getting very anxious and running through all the worse case scenarios when you get an email from a boss saying they need to see you right away. EMDR, similarly to big T, allows for the rapid processing of these disturbances and the events that caused them.
Addiction—as I sat in my training this fascinated me and I have some thoughts about this that I won’t cover here, but I think this is a field where there is vast potential for people. Most addicts started using because of a unresolved trauma (which we covered above) or because of a faulty positive self belief. For example, “People like me more when I’m drunk.” EMDR allows the person to process the emotions, events, thoughts or disturbances behind the addiction and reduces their desires to use substances.
Phobias/Anxiety—nobody likes shots, but some people really don’t like them, to the point that they cannot function when the thought of getting one is present and real. EMDR helps process the unrealistic beliefs that underpin these emotions and subsequently reduce the anxiety they produce.
Couples—(you knew I was going here) Truth is, lots of the difficulties in our relationship with our significant other stem from issues that were present with our parents or sibilings. EMDR allows for those events, thought, and emotions to be processed and doing this as a couple allows for additional empathy and understanding from our spouse. Additionally, this uncovers and helps us understand some of the landmines that we unknowingly step on. After the processing, couples can be resourced and built back up after having processed these difficult and stubborn people…err…issues from our past.
So, that’s it! These are the 5 uses of EMDR that I think would be most helpful for many of the folks out there walking the streets. If EMDR sounds interesting and you think it might be right for you, click the link above and contact me. Let’s see if I might be a good fit and we can start writing a New Story for you, with EMDR.
