Decoding EMDR: How This Misunderstood Therapy Heals Trauma
“Wait, what? WHAT does EMDR do?”
“Is that even a real thing?”
“I read somewhere that EMDR is a pseudoscience”
These are all comments that I have heard from clients when discussing EMDR. EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing, which is a long and confusing name. The name does not do it justice. The founder of EMDR, Francine Shapiro, stated that if she could go back and rename this process, she would have probably come up with a different name. I do my best to educate clients about EMDR and encourage them to read credible sources when thinking about using EMDR in our treatment.
“So how does it work in our brain?”
I explain it to clients like this- Traumatic memories are like a pair of old shoes in our closet. They’re there, creating clutter and collecting dust, but they are not serving any function. And quite honestly, they don’t belong there. Our brain takes a traumatic memory and shoves it in the first place it can find because our brain does not know where to put it or how to deal with it.
During EMDR, we ask the client to bring up a difficult memory and identify where the client feels that memory in the body. Bilateral stimulation- which can be through eye movement, tapping, or sound- encourages the memory to move back and forth across the hemispheres of the brain. Then the memory reaches the amygdala, which acts like the conductor of an orchestra. The amygdala tells the memory where to go.
If the client doesn’t want to share the image with me, I don’t need them to say anything. I simply watch their body to see how they are processing the memory.
The end result: the memory still exists without the emotional attachment to the memory.
“Why were my muscles spasming during EMDR?”
I have been trained in EMDR for years and receive consultation around EMDR. I have done EMDR with so many clients. Still, I have these moments of awe when I see just how EMDR affects the body. I often say to clients that I wish I could video them during EMDR so they could see their body releasing the trauma, stress, and tension. Our bodies hold onto trauma, plain and simple. After completing EMDR, clients reported reduced physical ailments, such as back pain or shoulder pain.
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk provides a good framework for any clients dealing with trauma. I encourage my clients to read this book before starting EMDR. Van der Kolk states, “...the most remarkable feature of EMDR is its apparent capacity to activate a series of unsought and seemingly unrelated sensations, emotions, images, and thoughts in conjunction with the original memory” (Van der Kolk, 2015, 361). EMDR provides a way to link the memory with the body– and the client doesn’t even need to say a word if they don’t want to. Trauma keeps the body and the brain from communicating; EMDR rebuilds the bridge between the two.
“What happens when the mind-body bridge has been rebuilt?”
When the brain recognizes where the body is holding onto trauma, it then makes it easier to recognize triggers. Another product of EMDR is that the client can make associations with events and triggers that they may not have previously recognized
If you are interested in EMDR, make sure you ask any questions that come up. In addition, it is important to find an EMDR therapist who has received EMDRIA approved training and continues to receive consultation around EMDR therapy.
Suggested reading for EMDR preparation:
Van der Kolk, B. A. (2015). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma.
EMDRIA Resources:
References
EMDRIA. (n.d.). EMDR International Association Home | EMDR Practitioners. Retrieved June 14, 2024, from https://www.emdria.org
Van der Kolk, B. A. (2015). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Penguin Publishing Group.