What Is EMDR Therapy?
You may have heard through the recent coverage from celebrities that this form of Therapy changed their lives and treated traumatic thoughts, memories and flashbacks very quickly. Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing Therapy – what is it?
EMDR was initially named after the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Sleep theory in the 80’s. EMDR has development and moved on since then, but still maintains the reference point to working from this initial theory and has now become a complex methodology founded by Francine Shapiro, which involves many components in addition to eye – movement which includes bilateral – dual attention techniques, attention to images, sounds, sensory exploration, belief systems, physical responses, increased awareness and resilience.
EMDR therapists are trained using an intensive 8 – phase structure to help free clients from their minds imprisoning them with past traumatic memories. Sessions are recorded by the therapists’ at Therawake to give a more accurate translation to the presentation of the process outside of the session, which helps to deepen, strengthen and improve the outcome for the client. Testimonies on EMDR can be found here:
The Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) stipulates that maladaptive stored memories of trauma can interfere with rational processing which results in clients
EMDR, due to its specialism and intensity, is more expensive than the other therapies offered at Therawake.
“When I started the EMDR process, I was sceptical about whether it would work for me. I was at the lowest point of my life, my situation felt hopeless. I initially found the process difficult and painful, and I didn’t know if I wanted to continue with it. I expressed my concerns to Judy and she was able to adapt the process to enable me to be better equip with coping between our sessions. I decided to persevere and I’m glad I did because, EMDR saved my life! I know to many that may seem excessive but it truly did. I was able to work through 30 years of complex trauma. I started to notice that the memories of the trauma were no longer traumatising me the way in which they used to. I started noticing things that would once cause me anxiety, no longer had the same hold on me. I was willing to try new things and sit with my uncomfortable feelings without becoming destructive.”
