EMDR

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing ) is a therapy used to help people recover from distressing events and the impact that these events have had on their daily lives. It can be used to help treat depression and anxiety, especially where a difficult life event has occurred. When a person is involved in a traumatic event, they may feel overwhelmed and their brain may be unable to fully process what has happened.

‘Old disturbing memories can be stored in the brain in isolation; they get locked into the nervous system with the original images, sounds, thoughts and feelings involved. The old distressing material just keeps getting triggered over and over again. This prevents learning/healing from taking place. In another part of your brain, you already have most of the information you need to resolve this problem; the two just can’t connect. Once EMDR starts a linking takes place. New information can come to mind and resolve the old problems. This may be what happens spontaneously in REM or dream sleep when eye movements help to process unconscious material.’ (directly taken from the EMDR transcript from EMDR works).

Clients can find EMDR helpful when they have witnessed or experienced a violent crime, an accident, bullying, abuse, a social humiliation, the sudden death of a loved one or suffering from a phobia.

For more information and references please visit:

https://emdrassociation.org.uk/

https://www.emdrworks.org/