Speed Matters with EMDR Eye Movements
Everyday EMDR Eye Movements and Tapping Exercises to Lower Stress and Boost Your Brain Health
When it comes to a successful EMDR treatment, the adage “speed matters” deftly applies.
I’ve been using EMDR for nearly 2 decades as a trauma therapist, supervisor, and senior trainer. I’ve either applied EMDR successfully with clients or taught and supervised its application in over 800 cases. After countless hours eating, breathing, and sleeping all things EMDR I can tell you this. The speed at which the EMDR bilateral tools work is critical to a successful application and ultimate resolution of any memory that is traumatic, anxiety producing, or emotionally upsetting.
First, let me give you a simple explanation of EMDR.
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing that was developed by Francine Shapiro, PhD in the late 1980’s to originally help people who suffered from anxiety. EMDR has developed into one of the most successful clinical treatments for PTSD ever studied.
EMDR is unique in its approach to healing trauma as it incorporates an effective series of physical interventions to stimulate the brain whilst remembering a traumatic incident. The interventions involve eye movements, tapping, aural sounds and haptic (vibrational) stimulation of the palms.
Why EMDR Works
The EMDR stimulation sequences are designed to bilaterally activate the left and right hemispheres of the brain in a rhythmic way to reorganise what Bessel van der Kolk labelled for me in a private conversation in 2007 the “thalamocortical network” in the brain. Bessel is a big fan of EMDR in the treatment of trauma and sings its praises in his best-selling book The Body Keeps the Score. Since my study with him and his team in Boston, I’ve been researching the positive effects of eye movements in disrupting stress and trauma in the brain.
I discovered, the thalamocortical network helps us to lower our fear responses and empower a process called fear extinction. However, with trauma our memory and associated fearful reactions don’t switch off and can continue to haunt us with flashbacks and intrusive re-experiences of a traumatic event. These painful experiences are often referred to as “hijacks”.
According to research, EMDR reduces hijacks and lowers the fearful experience of trauma memories to create a healthier outlook on the future. The side-to-side eye movements and bilateral stimulation from tapping and other inputs help to reorganise the thalamocortical network so the brain can essentially be reset to what I call “factory settings”. By reorganising the thalamocortical network a trauma sufferer can be back to their old selves again, only with tiny references to a fearful memory that once haunted them is now just “something that happened” in the past.
Contact Us
