EMDR
A powerful tool for healing
EMDR (Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) is a therapeutic tool that allows for your brain to process data in a different way than it does during talk therapy. I believe it to be extremely useful in general, but also definitely as a supplement to talk therapy.
In order to begin we need to:
Have you answer a dissociative experiences questionnaire (28 questions)
Build a container and calm place to end each session with or go to when you want a break either inside of session or whenever you find it useful (evokes your imagination and uses slow BLS)
Set you up in the easy emdr space and make sure it works on your device
If you want to try the visual, your screen needs to be in a landscape position, and you need to have it be wide enough where your eyes go across the midline of your face
If you want to try the sounds, you have to have headphones that plug in, as bluetooth doesn’t translate the sounds going back and forth between your ears
All of this set can usually get done within one to two sessions
How does it work?
By moving your eyes back and forth between the mid line of your brain, or listening to the sounds back and forth between your ears, (bilateral stimulation or BLS) it allows the left and right hemispheres of your brain to interact with each other in ways that are outside of deeply ingrained associations that are connected to your painful past experiences.
By affording your brain room to free associate while interacting with aspects of a difficult/traumatic experience it allows your system to make new meaning of your past painful experience(s), broaden your understanding of what happened, and integrate it into your current sense of self.
More info here.
What if I want to try it but my current therapist isn’t trained in it?
Generally speaking, it’s not advised or promoted for someone to see two different therapists at the same time for talk therapy.
The great news is that EMDR is different. It is in fact ethical for you two have two different therapists when it comes to the execution of talk therapy by one, and EMDR by the other.
This is awesome because if you already have a great relationship with your therapist you don’t have to start with someone from scratch. When you add an EMDR provider to your support system, it’s one more person you have in your corner and a way of promoting faster and more integrated healing.
Visual or auditory?
We get to play around with what you prefer the most.
Some people want to close their eyes and listen, while others prefer to watch the ball go back and forth across their screen.
They are equal in efficacy.