EMDR Therapy with Tammy Valicenti
Learn about how EMDR therapy works, what it is like, and how widely it is recognized.
What Is EMDR Therapy?
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing) therapy is an integrative, evidence-based therapy that relieves emotional and physical distress. It is a proven method that helps people recover from painful life experiences, like “little t” traumas (bullied at school as a child, failing a critical exam, fired from a job) and “big T” traumas (sexual assault, car accident, death of a loved one, war, childhood abuse); in other words, life. EMDR therapy is proven to alleviate symptoms of PTSD, panic, anxiety, phobias and depression, in addition to other difficulties. It is recommended and approved by professional organizations including The American Psychological Association, The World Health Organization, The U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs, The International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, The American Psychiatric Association and others.
How Was It Discovered?
In 1987, Dr. Francine Shapiro noticed that when she thought of something upsetting or disturbing and moved her eyes back and forth, the material became less disturbing. As a psychology graduate student, she was naturally curious about this and developed what would eventually become EMDR therapy.
In its early years it was a technique that was used only for alleviating symptoms of PTSD and had no known efficacy studies backing it up. We only had the anecdotal evidence and stories of success coming out of the experiences in our offices, which was ground-breaking at the time. We saw people that were suffering from years and sometimes decades of PTSD symptoms become asymptomatic within a few short sessions, and sometimes after just one session; something that no other form of therapy had done before. It was revolutionary. Flash forward a few years, and after scores of rigorous studies, EMDR is now a full-fledged therapy with applications and successes well beyond its original intent and scope.
How Does It Work?
Through bilateral stimulation (side-to-side eye movements, sounds or taps) and by connecting previously unconnected experiences, EMDR therapy processes emotions and physical sensations associated with earlier experiences, releasing or finding a home for them through neural connection, to other experiences. The emotional energy is discharged and your experiences begin to not only make sense intellectually but also physically and energetically. In the end, you relate to those experiences differently. You will say, yes that happened to me, I remember how difficult it was but the unpleasant emotions and physical sensations are no longer associated with those experiences.
The EMDR Therapy Experience:
A brief history is taken after which we co-create goals; then, after careful consideration, a target is mutually decided upon. The target is the memory/image that we believe is the best “window” to enter the earlier experience that has led to the current disturbance or unwanted patterns; the moment that, when used in conjunction with EMDR, will help process the earlier experience most effectively. We then bring our attention to that image and the emotions and sensations in your body and the negative beliefs that go with it. While you focus on that image along with the emotions and sensations, you begin bilateral stimulation. During this brief time (30 seconds to a minute or so), you simply notice any memories, thoughts, emotions or sensations that arise. After that first set is completed you report what you noticed and then go back to more bilateral stimulation, each time following or noticing changes in thoughts, emotions or sensations. This is done throughout the session, with each set evoking a new change, emotion, insight or belief regarding the target event and continues until the target no longer evokes difficult emotions, is less- or no longer disturbing or is replaced with positive beliefs.