EMDR: The trauma therapy treatment that changes lives - opinion

Trauma: It’s a word tossed around in our lexicon that is used to encompass a broad range of experiences, often diluted in ways that are unfair to those whose hearts and souls are truly and deeply suffering. Trauma doesn’t discriminate. It can happen to anyone, anywhere, anytime. Individually, communally, nationally, and globally. One thing we know for sure: trauma hurts. It can seep into the crevices of our spirits like an unexpected impostor, squashing our potential, our sense of agency, our hopes, and dreams, impacting us at every level: cognitively, emotionally, spiritually, and physically. It can disconnect us from the source of our truest self-expression, our beauty, excellence, and uniqueness as human beings.

Trauma can cruelly whisper that we don’t matter, that we’re not enough, invisible, unworthy, powerless, or unsafe. Trauma’s grip can become so powerful that it impacts nearly every aspect of our lives, and has us on our knees for relief from its many agonizing symptoms, not the least of which include intrusive memories, nightmares, difficulty concentrating, fluctuating mood states and a whole slew of physical symptoms. Certainly, healing comes in many forms; meditation and prayer, body work, expressive arts, psychotherapy, community, and spiritual practices of all kinds, and the loving hands, hearts and shoulders of family and friends who listen, catch our tears, and believe in our strength to stand tall when we are less certain we can.

Trauma-informed movements have surged over the last thirty years from a variety of streams of thought and innovation. Boasting a robust body of research in the treatment of trauma, is EMDR, which stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. Developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro, a psychologist who discovered the treatment by chance in 1987 as she was grappling with a personal crisis, she found spontaneously moving her eyes back and forth decreased her distress. Although balked at by academics at the time, EMDR’s validity and reliability has since been documented by rigorous studies, making it one of the most thoroughly researched methods used in the treatment of trauma for children and adults.

Our minds and bodies continuously manage incoming information and experiences without us even being aware. When something unexpected occurs such as a car accident or in more complex trauma, when there is repeated, ongoing distress such as childhood neglect, a person’s system can become overloaded and the natural processing mechanisms become compromised. Disturbances end up remaining stuck or “frozen” in the mind and body in isolated memory networks that are associated with emotions and physical sensations, open to being activated repeatedly by any reminders of the original traumatic event. In some cases, memories are long forgotten, but strong emotions and associated fears remain in the present, hooked into those older memories. EMDR creates connections between the brain’s memory networks, allowing the mind and body to complete processing memories in a very natural way so that the disturbances take on a more neutral charge. EMDR’s versatility has since allowed it to include treatment for a vast range of mental health challenges including depression, anxiety, addictions, chronic pain, and more, making it one of the world’s most effective treatments for psychological distress.

What is EMDR therapy?

SO WHAT exactly is it? EMDR is an organic, collaborative process of healing, appropriate for all ages. It has been used as “first aid” in emergency situations, as well as in inpatient and outpatient settings, remotely and with groups. Clients are in complete control throughout the process, and depending on the presenting difficulties, a person’s internal resources and external support systems, EMDR therapy can take as little as one to three sessions to begin experiencing relief and in some cases, completely resolve disturbances.

EMDR differs from more traditional talk therapy in that its focus is on desensitizing and reprocessing painful memories associated with trauma that have never been fully or adaptively processed, though some clinicians weave EMDR treatment into a broader therapeutic process. Underscoring the process of EMDR is the Adaptive Information Processing Theory, which describes how memories are processed and stored, positing that our experiences are connected to different memory networks, and disturbing memories that have not been fully processed cause a host of unpleasant symptoms. EMDR aims to dissolve those memories that have gotten stuck by changing the ways the memories are stored, so that they become less charged, reducing their vividness and distress, and inputting positive thoughts and emotions where pain once resided.

This is accomplished through gently guiding a person through building resources, which in turn calm the nervous system, making room for emotional regulation rather than trauma responses of fight, flight, and freeze. Because of its tendency towards rapid results and the fact that individuals can choose whether they wish to disclose details of traumatic events, it’s often an attractive treatment for many.

As one client reports, “I went into EMDR therapy skeptical. I’d been in traditional therapy for years but knew I had some locked away emotions that weren’t being addressed. I was pretty sure EMDR wouldn’t work but boy was I wrong. After just four EMDR sessions, I felt the waves of pain that I had suppressed for so long rising in me like a tsunami, but EMDR allowed me to not get overwhelmed by it, and to feel confident I would emerge intact, which I did. The pain of my history is no longer scary to me.”

How does it work? EMDR gently guides people towards healing through an eight-phased model that encompasses past events, present issues and anticipated future situations related to the memories being tackled. Phases 4, 5 and 6 are the core of EMDR, where desensitizing and reprocessing memories occur. Clients are asked to retrieve a painful memory, and a related belief they hold about themselves alongside the memory, as well as associated negative belief and body sensations, and an alternative, positive belief.

CLIENTS ARE then asked to hold the memory in mind and the associated emotion and belief as they follow sets of eye movements. This is done by either watching the therapist’s fingers move back and forth or visually tracking on a light bar, or some other form of what is referred to as Bilateral Stimulation (BLS), which can be auditory, tactile or some combination thereof. The BLS is part of what keeps individuals in a dual attentive state, anchored in the present, while having one foot in the memory. In more straightforward cases, the BLS is repeated until a client rates their progress and evaluates that their level of distress is resolved and there are no more associated memories being activated that require reprocessing. During these phases, a client is also strengthening positive beliefs until those beliefs feel the truest that they can, and scanning the body for any residual tension or lingering sensations indicating the memory may not be fully processed. Phase 7 of EMDR provides closure until the next session, whether clients have fully reprocessed a memory or not.

Clients will know a memory has been fully reprocessed when they can hold the memory in mind and feel neutral about it, when the alternative positive belief they chose feels as true as possible, and the body is clear of any tension or disturbance. EMDR work has been completed when the distress level remains low and the positive beliefs remain strong, with no disturbances left in the body.

Says one client who recently completed EMDR, “For close to thirty years, I struggled with sugar highs and lows. I went from specialist to specialist, all to no avail. I decide to try EMDR and within weeks I couldn’t believe how differently I felt. For the first time since childhood, my sugar highs and lows (or, perpetual flight/freeze responses) began to leave my body and I can engage in life in new ways.”

Here in Israel, the Jerusalem-based Mercaz Ofakim run by Psychologist and EMDR trainer, Deputy Director Dr. Dani Kahn, has been on the front lines since October 7, training and supervising clinicians in Israel. His staff has been tirelessly committed to offering ongoing supervision groups for those already trained who are seeking support with war-related complexities in their professional settings. The Mercaz also offers EMDR podcasts throughout the year. To date, Dr. Kahn and his team have trained over 700 therapists in EMDR.

Trauma can be cruel in its demands that we heal and sometimes the best we can do is heal “enough” which, in many cases, is pretty awesome. EMDR can help remind us that trauma doesn’t define or consume us, that it has no right to steal any aspect of our lives. It cannot silence us, or defeat us, or rob us of spreading positive energy to those around us, and it cannot prevent us from aligning our life’s works in ways that reflect our souls.

Rather, with time, tears and courage, the trauma we experience can transcend us, and give voice to the myriad ways in which we have changed and grown and redefined who we are. It can allow us to connect deeply to our authentic selves, releasing our minds, bodies, and spirits of the pain it held, awakening us in ways that allow us to engage with ourselves and the world around us in ways we weren’t sure were possible.

EMDR truly is changing lives, one memory at a time.

The writer is a psychologist, EMDR therapist, and author, in private practice in Jerusalem where she also teaches workshops and courses on Complex Trauma, offers consultation, and consumes far too much chocolate. She continues to offer free, one-time EMDR sessions to any mental health professional in need throughout the war.