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Graham Butler
01252 377787
What is EMDR?
(eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing)
Background to EMDR
From its beginning in the late 1980’s emdr has grown from a bizarre sounding new technique into an integrative approach to therapy. Emdr is now recognised as the most extensively researched treatment for PSTD.
The emdr protocol permits rapid access to deep material containing a wide range of associations that are all treated within the same therapeutic framework.
There is no single approach in psychotherapy treatment that is guaranteed to be successful. However, with the EMDR treatment procedures, the speed with which results can be obtained, the breadth of disorders which respond to treatment and the depth of healing that is achieved, all combine together to challenge customary assumptions about what is achievable in the treatment of psychological and emotional disorders.
Many mental health clinicians report that EMDRhas radically changed their professional practice. Clients often report that it has changed their lives like nothing they have ever before encountered. As a practitioner, I have witnessed similar dramatic changes in clients when treating a range of symptoms.
It is important to appreciate the role of research in EMDR. From the beginning it has been central, and still is. Any psychotherapy treatment needs to have both a subjective and an objective verification, and EMDR has both. EMDR also challenges traditional thinking about psychotherapy, how the human mind works and responds to treatment as well as about expectations for the client’s lives.
When a trauma occurs it seems to get locked in the nervous system together with the original picture, and the associated sounds, thoughts, feelings and limiting beliefs about oneself. The eye movements employed in the EMDR process seem to unlock the nervous system and allow the brain to process the experience.
It is suggested that this is what also happens in REM sleep (dream sleep during which rapid eye movement occurs). It is thought that these rapid eye movements help the brain to process unconscious material that may not have been understood or resolved adequately during waking hours. During emdr treatment it is emphasised to the client that it is their brain that does the healing and that they are in control throughout the process.
(eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing)
Background to EMDR
From its beginning in the late 1980’s emdr has grown from a bizarre sounding new technique into an integrative approach to therapy. Emdr is now recognised as the most extensively researched treatment for PSTD.
The emdr protocol permits rapid access to deep material containing a wide range of associations that are all treated within the same therapeutic framework.
There is no single approach in psychotherapy treatment that is guaranteed to be successful. However, with the EMDR treatment procedures, the speed with which results can be obtained, the breadth of disorders which respond to treatment and the depth of healing that is achieved, all combine together to challenge customary assumptions about what is achievable in the treatment of psychological and emotional disorders.
Many mental health clinicians report that EMDRhas radically changed their professional practice. Clients often report that it has changed their lives like nothing they have ever before encountered. As a practitioner, I have witnessed similar dramatic changes in clients when treating a range of symptoms.
It is important to appreciate the role of research in EMDR. From the beginning it has been central, and still is. Any psychotherapy treatment needs to have both a subjective and an objective verification, and EMDR has both. EMDR also challenges traditional thinking about psychotherapy, how the human mind works and responds to treatment as well as about expectations for the client’s lives.
When a trauma occurs it seems to get locked in the nervous system together with the original picture, and the associated sounds, thoughts, feelings and limiting beliefs about oneself. The eye movements employed in the EMDR process seem to unlock the nervous system and allow the brain to process the experience.
It is suggested that this is what also happens in REM sleep (dream sleep during which rapid eye movement occurs). It is thought that these rapid eye movements help the brain to process unconscious material that may not have been understood or resolved adequately during waking hours. During emdr treatment it is emphasised to the client that it is their brain that does the healing and that they are in control throughout the process.
Does it work?
Positive therapeutic results have been reported with a wide range of patients within the following groups:
Positive therapeutic results have been reported with a wide range of patients within the following groups:
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War veterans who were previously resistant to treatment, now no longer experience flashbacks, nightmares and other PTSD symptoms following treatment.
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People with phobias and panic disorders revealed a rapid reduction of fear and other symptoms.
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The bereaved are relieved of excessive and prolonged grief following the loss of a loved one.
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Sexual assault victims are able to lead normal lives and maintain healthy sexual relationships.
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Graham is an EMDR Consultant - trained by the EMDR UK & Ireland EMDR Association in the use of EMDR for trauma resolution.
Contact me using the contact form below to find out how we can work together.
