EMDR

EMDR or Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing is a powerful process developed in the 1980’s by a clinical psychologist Dr Francine Shapiro.

Much research has been done which shows that EMDR is an effective process for treating trauma such as PTSD, rape, childhood abuse (including physical/ sexual/ emotional abuse, neglect, abandonment), accidents and surgical trauma, to name but a few. It is also often used with anxiety, panic, and phobia.

With most distressing events we have the ability to process normally. However, when we are overwhelmed by the distressing event that memory becomes frozen at a neurological level and often the person may want to avoid thinking abut it to avoid re-experiencing painful feelings the distressing memory evokes.

EMDR uses alternating left-right stimulation of the brain with eye movements (like in REM sleep) tapping or sounds, which is said to access the blocked information processing. By processing painful memories, they become less intense/painful like ordinary memories.