EMDR: What the heck is it?

EMDR is all over the news these days, proving to be effective with war veterans and trauma patients. But what is it, exactly? How does it work?

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing is a powerful and effective therapeutic technique that has proven very successful in helping people who suffer from trauma, anxiety, panic, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and many other emotional difficulties. Research shows that EMDR is the most effective and rapid method for healing PTSD.

EMDR therapy uses bilateral stimulation (such as right-left eye movements or auditory stimuli), which repeatedly activates both sides of the brain at the same time. This allows us to access both brain hemispheres to recall traumatic memories, and perhaps reprocess them in a healthier way.

When traumatic events occur, sometimes our brains cannot properly process and digest what is happening. The memory of the event gets "stuck" in one area of our brain. By stimulating both sides of the brain simultaneously, while recalling the traumatic moment (and the emotions associated with it) in a safe environment, the memory gets the chance to be redistributed properly in the brain, or reprocessed. This allows us to store a healthier, resolved memory of the event, which results in more positive emotions surrounding it. This neurophysiological healing process then frees us to focus on our current existence, rather than being "stuck" in the past.

Scientifically speaking, we don't know exactly how EMDR works. We also don't know exactly how antidepressants work, but they obviously do work for many people. There are several theories about how EMDR works: the idea that the eye movements imitate what happens in REM sleep, which is when our brains do much of our memory processing; the idea that simply using both sides of the brain at the same time allows our rational minds and our primitive minds to work in conjunction with each other; the idea that traumatic memories get stored in our short-term memory, and EMDR allows them to be redistributed into our long-term memory. There isn't yet enough research to prove any of these theories, but plenty of PTSD sufferers and trauma victims have reported positive, healing results.

One of the greatest things about EMDR therapy is that it can work for anyone, not simply for people suffering from PTSD or past trauma. EMDR is useful for daily life issues, current stress issues, relationship issues, career issues, even chronic pain issues. EMDR can work for what might seem unworkable to you.

Visit www.kellymcnair.com for more resources on EMDR and other therapy information.