“The treatment made me look deep, very deep, into my own existence.  I’m more attentive to my feelings.  Now I treasure each and every moment of my life.”   ~ Richard Webster

 EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a completely non-invasive, highly effective and powerful short-term treatment modality primarily used to treat a wide array of psychiatric disorders, and was first developed in the late 1980’s by a psychologist, Francine Shapiro, Ph.D., who observed that particular eye movements reduced the intensity of disturbing thoughts in some of her patients.  It does not involve the use of medications or hypnosis.  Many scientific research studies have shown EMDR to be one of the most effective and rapid methodologies in treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

When trauma and other disturbing experiences occur they are “stored” in a part of the brain known as the hippocampus with all of the associated primal raw and vivid imagery, sounds, thoughts and feelings that accompany it.  In the presence of emotional upheaval the brain appears to be unable to effectively process the experience as it normally would.  As a result, the disturbing thoughts and feelings become “locked away” within the brain.  These emotions and experiences are oftentimes then suppressed from consciousness.  Yet the anguish is not lost.  It continues to exist within the nervous system where it can cause significant disruption in the person’s emotional functioning.

During the process of EMDR two very important things take place.  First, EMDR ‘unlocks” the harmful memories and emotions.  Secondly, these are then re-stored in different “files” of the brain, allowing the patient a more objective perspective relative to the traumatic events.  The goal of EMDR is for the patient to ultimately get to a place whereby they are able to recall the depth of the trauma without being overwhelmed by the flooding of images and sensations.

EMDR treatment utilizes something known as “bilateral stimulation” which is a process of stimulating both sides of the brain while the patient is encouraged to intensely focus on the traumatic or otherwise disturbing event.  This is accomplished via either right-left eye movement (following an object with your eyes while the therapist move it side-to-side), right-left tactile stimulation (often performed by the therapist tapping on the knees or shoulders), or right-left sound stimulation (utilizing low-volume buzzers in each hand).  This repeated activation of opposite sides of the brain is purported to somehow ‘release’ the emotional experiences and associated feelings locked away within the hippocampus.  As the upsetting feelings and images are processed by the brain during the bilateral stimulation patients are able to obtain a more peaceful state while experiencing them.  Thereby allowing a ‘freeing-up’ of the otherwise repressed experiences and emotions.  It is when these memories and their related emotions are brought to mind in this new and different state of calm that they are experienced in a whole new way.  EMDR therapy can help patients substitute their fear and anxiety surrounding traumatic and other disturbing events with positive images, thoughts and feelings.

Many studies to date have demonstrated the significant effectiveness of EMDR in treating the following conditions:

• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Loss and bereavement
• Motor vehicle or other types of traumatic accidents
• Severe injury to a loved one
• Assault and/or rape
• Victim of violent crime
• Childhood physical/sexual abuse and trauma
• Severe anxiety and panic
• Phobias
• Victims of natural disasters (fire, flood, earthquake, tornado, hurricane)
• Witness of extreme violence

Studies further demonstrate that the EMDR technique is most effective when used in conjunction with other traditional methods of therapy in treating these and other emotional disorders.

To be clear, EMDR is not hypnosis.  The patient is awake and alert throughout the therapy session and in control at all times.  Like hypnosis EMDR does work with the unconscious, bringing repressed thoughts and feelings into consciousness.  Although there is no particular physical discomfort associated with the EMDR process, this type of intervention can indeed induce strong and vivid emotions and feelings during a session.  This is in fact a normal and necessary response as the EMDR technique acts upon the negative experiences and feelings as they are brought into the patient’s awareness.  This period of discomfort is usually quite short-lived.

Ostensibly, the main advantage of EMDR over more traditional forms of therapy is that this technique provides somewhat of a ‘short-cut’ in the process of tapping into unconscious memories and analyzing their meaning in order to acquire insight into the functional and emotional challenges of the patient.  When used in conjunction with other more traditional therapeutic modalities, EMDR can help move a patient more quickly from a place of distress to one of peace relative to the thoughts and sensations of the traumatic or disturbing event.  Studies have consistently demonstrated that EMDR treatment can often result in eliminating the uncomfortable and distressing thoughts and feelings whereby the memory remains, but the disturbing, and often dysfunctional response, is neutralized.

There are many very skilled, highly qualified, and certified EMDR therapists in and around the tri-counties area.  They can be easily found by searching ‘EMDR therapists in the Santa Barbara area’ on your favorite web search engine.