What is Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing Therapy?
(bright music) (swooshing) (light, atmospheric music) – [Woman] Those images
are just stuck in my head. – [Man] My childhood was
so bad with the abuse. I’ve been to therapy for years. I like my therapist, but
nothing really changed. – [Woman] I can’t
stand going out to bars or being around people. I drink alone. I think it used to
make me feel better, but not anymore. – [Man] Since the
attack I feel numb. Had to leave school and work. My life just stopped. (bright pinging) – [Narrator] These are
the voices of people who have lived with post
traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Sometimes PTSD can
start right away after something happens, and other times it takes a
while to notice symptoms. (light music) Either way, when
a person has PTSD, it usually means
that painful memories become a problem
in a person’s life. And that’s when someone
might need some help. But PTSD is a condition
that can be treated! There are a few therapies
that work especially well and eye movement
desensitization
and reprocessing, or EMDR, is one. EMDR is an evidence
based treatment, which means it’s been
proven to be effective more often than most
other types of therapy. (bright music) During EMDR, a
trained therapist works with a person to keep
the sessions comfortable and relaxed, but
also to achieve the goals they set together. Relaxation and breathing
exercises might be taught early in the sessions, so
they can be used later. People then talk
about the memories that have been most
difficult for them. While they’re telling the
stories of their trauma, they’re also watching something
right in front of them such a moving lights
or the tip of a pencil being waved back and forth. The repetitive eye
movement can be distracting or calming, and telling
the story becomes easier. This is desensitization. Next the feelings that
go with the memories of awful, traumatic moments or years of traumatic
moments can change! Those feelings
shift during therapy and how people think
about themselves in relation to their memories
can be dramatically different following EMDR. This is reprocessing. The memories start to
have far less power than they did before
the treatment. The best news is that EMDR
usually doesn’t take that long! The feeling that a person
is stuck in the past can change with EMDR. People with PTSD can
become fully present and live their lives
the way they intend. PTSD can be treated, and people can get back to
the lives they want to live. (bright music)
Find an EMDR therapist: https://psychhub.com/
EMDR is an evidence-based treatment where repetitive eye movement is used to make telling a story easier.
#EMDR #MentalHealth
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43 Comments
Does anyone know if this method would be beneficial for BPD / EUPD at all please?
This is amazing. I wish I knew about it before failing to process trauma for 3 years
I want to treat my panic attacks with a therapist إمدر But I fear that emotions will overwhelm me and the session will be disrupted 😢
My therapist says he wants to do this on me.i have trouble being around peolple i think because every since i was young i have been from one traumatic experience to the next and people seems to just treat me bad alot of the times and im highly sensitive so it really gets to me.learning to try not take offense on some smaller issues because i figure all i have is control over myself it would benefit me to not let people control me in that way.i feel better when im alone but after i go from being with most people even friends i feel so worn out
My therapist wants to do this with me but I'm not gonna do it because it's pointless and will never help me. Nothing will ever help me.
want to go to america
Are there any rich people?
Please help me🙏🙏🙏
I am willing to do any of your work. I will be your servant.
I'm starting this type of therapy myself. I really hope it works.
Now, how would this work for CPTSD? There are just too many memories of neurotypicals bullying me (and it continues). We could never go through it all. That’s why I’m skeptical about this for eating disorders and other autistic related things like low self esteem.
Another solution is society in general would be to teach neurotypicals to treat people nicely.
This sounds like such nonsense, it's bizarre if this actually works. Not saying it is, it just sounds so strange.
Does it work for addiction
Does it work for complex ptsd?
I've had EMDR and can't wait to have it again.
All this is is justification for abuse. Get over it doesntmattwrbc there is therapy. Thesesame therapist will go to a courtand defend your abuser how they are the victims and had no control over being an abuser.
Im starting EMDR with my therapist next week. I pray this works…as ive had many years of therapy and coping skills, mindfulness, all that jazz..PTSD is a doozy for me and causing me intense anxiety anymore. Its the wierdest thing too because i supressed most of my memories until after my mom died, then it felt like flood gates of horrible memories opened in my brain and i suddenly remembered things. I hate it. I hope this therapy works
Evidence based treatment. while the patient is telling the stories of their trauma, they are also watching something right in front of them such as moving light or a tip of a penicil moving back and forth. the repetitive eye movement becomes easier and telling the story becomes easier this is desensitization. next the feeling that shift during therapy, this is reprocessing.
I'd definitely be open to doing this but my therapist said it could actually retrigger me, and said "you've already had enough trauma." So idk.
Is it vital to have a therapist or can one do it for them selves with success?
I wish that my experience with EMDR was like this. Doing it online in a video call was not easy. I agreed to doing EMDR after I told my old therapist about one of my more serious traumatic experiences. But I had a dissociative problem while meeting with this therapist and this would cause me to agree with anything she said to keep her happy. Every session of EMDR felt like I was frozen and fear and I thought that was how it was supposed to be. But now after reading these comments I feel even more confused. My experience with EMDR was honestly a bit traumatic. I don’t like thinking about those sessions even though they were supposed to help my trauma. But I just hope that my experience shows that it may not work for everyone and that you should find the right therapist if you want to try EMDR. Not every therapist is the same. I have had three therapist so far, and each of them were different. It’s always okay to talk to your therapist about this.
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I had only one session of EMDR (didn't know what it was) relating to some traumatic experiences as a child, and my therapist found a way to contrast the really bad, flashback memory to another, really warm and healthy memory, while only moving her fingers. I have really high respect for my therapist after that, because I've been to 10-20 other psychologists and none of them had ever really just listened to me and taken seriously how deep my damage really was. So it was such a relief to be asked to follow her guidance.
I am an EMDR certified therapist and I wanted to make note that a HUGE benefit about this approach is that you DON'T have to talk about your trauma in depth to heal or reprocess. The video does a good job explaining the gist of it but I do want to make note that you do not have to tell your story as the eye movements are happening. The healing is within the adaptive information processing system of the brain. The therapist is trained to by your guide and facilitator. This approach is truly life-changing for so many people because it is bottom to top processing. It is much more body-based.
Thanks for this. My only technical criticism is that the animation movement, a rapid sliding effect, over and over, is too fast, and strangely frightening.
Bunch of bullshit. Don't waste your money.
Hello
Thank you for this. Nice and straight to the point.
I've done 3 EMDR sessions so far and I cry everytime and afterwards I cry over dumb stuff and all these memories I forgot coming up… is that how it's suppose to be? When will I start feel better and not hurt by these memories?
100%%%%%%%% works. Saved my life.
And they have to talk in the therapy correct?
I thinking this is exactly the same as hypnosis. Tricking the brain to believe it is safe now. Reprogramming it.
I think it may have damaging and unexpected long term consequences just like hypnotherapy. I want true healing, not this stuff. I’m gonna try prayer ministry instead.
I thinking this is exactly the same as hypnosis. Tricking the brain to believe it is safe now. Reprogramming it.
I think it may have damaging and unexpected long term consequences just like hypnotherapy. I want true healing, not this stuff. I’m gonna try prayer ministry instead.
I have a question. How do some patients have near immediate results or only a couple of EMDR sessions to even overcome their PTSD?
I know there are stages to EMDR sessions and regular PTSD therapy could last a year, I would assume, especially depending on the trauma. I would assume that medication would be involved as well? I'm with a trauma informed therapist but not diagnosed with PTSD. I'm curious if there are critiques about this treatment in addition to its benefits.
Tried what was called EMDR before, except this therapist had me hold these balls that vibrated. One ball in my left hand, the other in my right. One would vibrate and turn off, and then the other would vibrate and turn off, and it would go back and forth like that. While the balls were vibrating, I had to talk about one of my traumas. I did this for 10 sessions over 5 months talking about the same trauma with the balls vibrating. At the end of it all, nothing changed. Nothing was different, and I still felt the same about my traumas, even the one I had been talking about. So it didn't help me and was just a waste of time. By the end of all the sessions I was sick about talking about the same trauma and I wanted to throw the balls out the window because by the end of the sessions my hands were numb and tingly from holding vibrating balls for an hour. I've never had trouble talking about my traumas, I don't get emotional while talking about them since I've told my story to so many different councilors and therapists. To me, it's like talking about the weather, and since I thought what I went through was normal anyways, I never struggled to talk about it. What I struggle with is the mental damage the traumas left behind. Like no self-esteem, I hate myself, I can't trust people, especially men, I don't feel joy or excitement or happiness anymore, there is always a sense of impending doom, like my world is just about to fall apart. I have zero motivation for anything, I can't even get myself to do things I used to like. I have anxiety attacks when I'm in public by myself. I don't have a support system because I don't have any friends and I only have an indifferent sister for family. The list goes on. So far, no therapist has been able to help me with these things. They all want to shove breathing techniques down my throat, which don't work. I'm having an anxiety attack in public, do breathing techniques, nothing changes because the situation is still the same, and I'm still alone in public. So breathing techniques don't do shit for me. I've tried so many types of therapy, and nothing helps me. My mental health symptoms just get worse with every year despite therapy and medications. Makes me wanna just give up sometimes.
I'm glad a lot of you have had good experiences with it. It didn't work AT ALL for me.
I don't know alot about this particular therapy, but ive been doing A.R.T. (Accelerated Resolution Therapy) which is very similar and it has completely changed my life for the better. I am absolutely a different person than i was 6 months ago when i first started the therapy.
My therapist recently reccommended I try EMDR after some experiences with some trauma stuff resurfacing at work. I never thought that I had anything even close to PTSD, because I never thought that I experienced anything bad enough. But I guess that that is kind of how that is, haha. I'm excited to try it, as there are lots of things I just can't get out of my head. Wish me luck!
Is this therapy helpful in treating severe anxiety? I’ve been struggling with mental health condition for as long as I can remember. I think it’s time to get real help, not just talk therapy!
I am loving emdr and just started.
What if it’s not the past and it is still going on and i don’t know when it will stop
Diabolical