Exploring EMDR Therapy from a Therapist’s Perspective
Blog Article by Susan Tang, MSW RSW
The first time that I had heard about EMDR Therapy was when I was completing my education at the University of Western Ontario. A professor of mine had mentioned that this therapeutic intervention was excellent in treating trauma and trauma-based responses and went on to explain how this intervention worked, how it affects our clients, and so forth. And to be honest, when I thought about this intervention in my mind, it seemed so complex and abstract to understand. The way that I understood it at that time was through Star Wars: A New Hope, in which Obi-Wan Kenobi used his Jedi mind-tricks against Storm Troopers, where he waved his fingers and said, “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.” After that, the Storm Troopers were manipulated into believing that 3PO and R2 aren’t the droids that they’re looking for, when in fact, they are the droids that they’re looking for. And as a result of this iconic scene, this reference has been used a number of times in various TV shows, such as House M.D, the Sorcerers’ Apprentice, and Wizards of Waverly Place, to name a few. As an up-and-coming therapist at that time, that was the best image that I could come up with to my professor’s explanation about EMDR Therapy, where with a wave of my fingers in front of my client’s eyes, I could say, “You will stop worrying about the things that you cannot control,” “You will stop feeling hurt and sad from this unhealthy relationship that didn’t serve you,” or “You will stop smoking substances that you know aren’t healthy for you,” and somehow, someway, they would listen to me and my commands. As I said before, EMDR Therapy seemed like such a far-fetched intervention that I couldn’t believe it to be true. Yet, all of that changed when I mustered up the strength and courage to became trained in EMDR Therapy and in turn, had EMDR Therapy to be done on me. It’s been life-changing intervention ever since. As such, I’m hoping to share a few of the findings that I believe would be important to know about EMDR Therapy, if you are interested in having this intervention done for yourself in the future.
What is EMDR Therapy?
In the 1980s, Dr. Francine Shapiro was taking a walk one day with upsetting thoughts and feelings, where she noticed that after a few minutes of following the cracks on the sidewalk, those thoughts and feelings dissipated. Dr. Shapiro was baffled by this and decided to find out why this happened, where she discovered by moving her eyes back and forth while thinking of something disturbing, that disturbance in and of itself started to disappear. As a result of that finding, Dr. Shapiro created this intervention known as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy, also known as EMDR Therapy, and used this intervention in treating individuals who suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Dr. Shapiro’s work was so successful that a number of individuals who suffered from PTSD noticed a difference within themselves in 6-8 sessions, where their trauma-based responses were reduced, their medication was no longer needed, and that the individual, themselves, became functional and capable in their day-to-day lives! It has shown that EMDR Therapy can make individuals suffering from mental health challenges to feel better about themselves and to resolve their traumas to the extent that they are no longer impacted by it.
How Does EMDR Therapy Work?
EMDR Therapy believes that the brain has a natural tendency to heal, where the brain wants to achieve a state of health and balance at all times. However, when a traumatic event occurs, the trauma from the event will come in and disrupt the brain’s ability to heal itself. The brain struggles to store this traumatic event because it does not know how to process this experience and as a result, the distressing event remains in the form of upsetting thoughts, sensations, images, and emotions, causing individuals to feel overwhelmed and in other words, “stuck” or “frozen” in that moment in time. What EMDR does is that it helps the brain to reflect and reprocess the memories and in turn, allows the brain’s normal and natural tendency to heal to resume. The traumatic experience is still remembered but the trauma-based responses are resolved.
What Does EMDR Therapy Look Like?
In the beginning sessions of EMDR, it will resemble Talk Therapy, where the therapist will attempt to understand a client through their histories and background before determining whether the client is emotionally ready to engage in the trauma work. If the client is emotionally ready to engage, the therapist will work alongside the client to understand which traumatic event that the two of them would like to reprocess and once that has been discovered, the therapist will teach the client a number of skills to manage and navigate the trauma work that can arise from reprocessing the traumatic event. For example, the therapist will offer important information about the nature and structure of the brain, of the trauma work to be done, and of the essential self-soothing skills and coping strategies that may be needed if the trauma work becomes emotionally intense. Upon learning these skills and strategies, the therapist will begin the work by leading the client through a series of bilateral stimulation to recall, reflect, and reprocess the traumatic experience in small segments until these traumatic memories are no longer distressing to the client. The therapist will continue this work and will check in with the client on a regular basis to see whether there have been any changes made.
In EMDR Therapy, the therapist will be leading the client to exercise bilateral stimulation, which is the brain’s ability to use both their left and right hemispheres to reprocess the information. This is also known as “dual attention”, so when the client is exercising bilateral stimulation, they are in the past and when bilateral stimulation is not happening, the therapist will bring them back to the present, where they will describe their experience in 1-2 sentences before going back to the past. In other words, it would be like having one foot in the past and one foot in the present. This bilateral stimulation creates an experience similar to REM Sleep, which is our own bodies natural way of reprocessing information. EMDR Therapy replicates this sensation during a client’s consciousness by engaging in the dual attention and taxing their memories – taxing it to the extent that it won’t be hard to recall these traumatic memories and in turn, these memories will be less distressing. For example, taxing one’s memory can look like recalling the ABCs while reflecting on the traumatic event.
A few experts have their own assumptions regarding this treatment. For instance, a few believe that EMDR Therapy is effective because recalling traumatic experiences are less disturbing when clients are not fully focused on the traumatic memories, whereas others believe that the bilateral stimulation used in EMDR Therapy encourages clients to develop an alternative focus that can support them in accessing distressing memories and unwanted thoughts. What can be understood is that EMDR Therapy works to heal trauma. This understanding can be forwarded to other therapeutic interventions, such as Talk Therapy, where experts aren’t entirely sure as to why this approach works but can recognize the research that was conducted and the benefits that are highlighted from Talk Therapy. The full extent of Talk Therapy is still unknown. Yet, what can be understood is that Talk Therapy works. This can also be said for EMDR Therapy, where the full extent of EMDR Therapy is still unknown, but what is understood is that EMDR Therapy works.
What Conditions Can EMDR Therapy Treat?
Ever since its founding, EMDR Therapy has become one of the most recommended and researched therapeutic treatment for trauma, where its intention has been expanded to include treating a range of mental health concerns that can include but is not limited to: anxiety, addiction, depression, eating disorders, grief and loss, insomnia, impulse control issues, phobias, relationship challenges, and so much more. Due to its flexibility and functionality, EMDR Therapy has been recognized as an effective form of trauma treatment by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), World Health Organization (WHO), and the Department of Defense in United States of America. As such, EMDR Therapy has a tremendous seal of approval for treating trauma.
What are the Benefits of EMDR Therapy?
There are a number of benefits to EMDR Therapy. The first and foremost benefit that I would like to reiterate is that EMDR Therapy can advantageous for clients if they struggle with talking or if they don’t want to talk about the traumatic event. The second benefit is that EMDR Therapy can treat individuals of all ages and of all walks of life. The final benefit(s) is that EMDR Therapy can create sustainable changes in the brain, such as a change in negative thinking, a change in concentration and focus, a decrease in chronic pain and suffering, improved self-esteem and self-confidence, improved sleep, improved relationships, and a resolution to trauma and traumatic experiences.
How Long Does It Take for EMDR Therapy to Work?
To be honest, the number of sessions needed for EMDR Therapy “to work” is dependent on the individual and the issue that they want to reflect on and to reprocess. However, research studies have shown that clients can begin to feel a difference in 6-8 sessions. I’d like to believe that this is the case because their brains will be activated after one session and if these sessions are continued thereafter, their brain will engage in its natural ability to heal, and the changes will compound with each subsequent session. As such, I encourage clients to attend a minimum of six sessions to notice a sense of improvement in oneself.
A forewarning that I would like to reiterate to all clients who are interested in EMDR Therapy is that terminating treatment in the middle of a “reprocessing” session can cause further harm than healing. The reason why I say this is because once the reprocessing starts, the brain will be activated and will continued to be activated for approximately 24-48hrs. As such, it’s important for the client to return to the EMDR Therapist on a regular basis, such as a week-to-week basis, in order to return and to reprocess the “activated” network of the brain before closing it accordingly, so that clients can heal. If this “activated” network is left open, then the brain will not know what to do with this information and as a result, this inability to reprocess, to reflect, and to heal the chosen memory can cause additional challenges and concerns for the client to the extent that it can feel like that they, themselves, are being re-traumatized once more. This is why EMDR therapists will check in with the client on a frequent basis in order to ensure that their memory networks are clear and are ready to be contained until their next session.
What to Know Before Trying EMDR Therapy?
A few tidbits that I would like for interested clients to know is that:
EMDR does not require clients to talk about their traumas within session and as a result of this unique nature, this treatment intervention can feel less overwhelming than other approaches that are used to treat trauma and trauma-based responses. To add to this, EMDR Therapy can be beneficial for those who are not interested in talking about their trauma or struggle with talking altogether.
In the 24-48hrs of having EMDR sessions, clients can experience a heightened sense of awareness to their emotions and/or sensations, which can look like feeling lightheaded or hungry; have vivid dreams; or recall memories that they didn’t think was crucial or relevant to their situational circumstances. All of these are normal “side-effects” of EMDR Therapy as it indicates that their brain is activated and is reprocessing the traumatic event that has impacted them so significantly. This does not mean that clients would have to take the next two days off to take care of themselves, rather they can continue their day-to-day activities with a sense of awareness that something is shifting inside themselves and to be mindful of those incoming emotions and/or sensations
In the case that clients become distressed during the EMDR session, the EMDR Therapist will be there to support them by helping them to return to the moment and engage in distress tolerance techniques that can include but is not limited to relaxation, mindfulness, and self-soothing strategies.
There is so much to EMDR Therapy that I won’t be able to capture the complexity of it within this article. That is why I would invite anyone who is interested in this intervention to reach out and connect with me. My name is Susan Tang, and I am a Registered Social Worker at Straight Up Health. I offer a free 15-minute consultation to determine whether EMDR Therapy would be the best fit for you and your needs. So, if you are interested in booking a consultation with me, I would encourage you to email admin@straightuphealth.ca or to call 647-560-2557. I look forward to connecting with you soon!