NEWSLETTER

What is EMDR?

EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) is a therapeutic approach developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro in NYC in the 80’s. Since, it has become her life work as well as the research and practice domain of clinicians all over the world.

It started as a response to Shapiro’s own battle with cancer when she discovered by chance that a combination of lateral eye movement and intense negative beliefs and emotions resulted in a reduction in the last two. In her doctoral dissertation she further developed these ideas, which subsequently became widely used in helping veterans suffering from severe post-traumatic stress. The success rate using this approach was higher than that of the more traditional approaches, therefore allowing its expansion into helping individuals and groups of people who suffered through natural disasters, war, terrorist acts and historical and present abuse. Other EMDR applications started focusing on the present and future optimal functioning and well-being of clients, such as "increasing affect tolerance" (the ability to tolerate better positive and negative emotions in the present), "resource installation" (maximizing existing and building on new internal resources) and "peak performance enhancement" in career. More specialized approaches using EMDR have tackled chronic pain, eating disorders, addictions, phobias as well as applications of the model to children and couple work.

So how does it work?

The human complexity precludes us from fully understanding how EMDR works. There are several hypotheses; one of them is that the lateral stimulation of the brain allows material "stuck" in the more "primitive" parts of the brain to be assimilated and reprocessed in the more "recent" and developed areas of the brain. With the reprocessing of "old material" come newly discovered abilities to choose different options for thinking, feeling and acting. Another hypothesis states that the benefits may be the result of the integrative approach (feelings, thoughts, body sensations and actions) that EMDR uses, and which are not part of the traditional "talk therapy".

To find out more about EMDR feel free to ask me or go to the following web site: www.emdr.com for the EMDR Institute.