The acronym EMDR refers to the psychotherapeutic treatment “eye movement desensitization and reprocessing.” EMDR is an integrative psychological treatment, developed by Francine Shapiro (1987).
EMDR therapy works on the person’s information processing system, which due to different circumstances (accidents, abuse, losses, etc.) has caused a blockage in said system and generates certain symptoms, such as symptoms of anxiety, beliefs. negative, physical or psychological pain, fear, sadness, etc. Faced with the repression of these events, psychiatric disorders can develop over the years.
To learn more about EMDR, continue reading this Psychology-Online article, where we will explain the EMDR therapy: what it is, what it consists of and what its techniques are like.
EMDR is the acronym for eye movement desensitization and reprocessingthe name of the therapy in English. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing means eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. EMDR is an integrative psychological therapy, whose objective is to alleviate the suffering of people who have experienced a traumatic event, which gives rise to certain psychological problems.
EMDR is a very effective intervention in the treatment of PTSD; however, numerous studies have supported the effectiveness of EMDR treatment in other psychiatric disorders, such as bipolar disorder, depression, and borderline personality disorder. For example, here you can see how it works.
EMDR therapy aims to desensitize the person from their traumatic memories, producing an integration of these traumatic memories, so that when remembering said event it does not cause any disturbance. It seeks to enable the person to reach a more adaptive and healthy resolution to a given incident, thereby managing dysfunctional beliefs, emotions and behaviors.
This therapy consists of a basic standardized protocol that includes 8 phases. The treatment seeks to adapt to the person to the greatest extent, so that the established route of the phases should not be followed literally, their order can be alternated, following at all times criteria of sensitivity and flexibility throughout the treatment to adapt to the patient. .
The treatment consists of 8 application phases, which aim to desensitize the person from the traumatic experience, to reduce the disturbing impact it produces and the dysfunction it entails. Next, we will see what EMDR is and how it works. The protocolized order of application is as follows, taking into consideration the possibility of alternating its phases:
1. History and planning
The first phase of EMDR therapy consists of performing the hpatient history and treatment planning. Like all types of interventions, EMDR is not suitable for everyone, so the first step should be to develop an assessment of the factors that determine whether the treatment is appropriate for each individual patient. In EMDR, traumatic or previously undetected memories come to light very quickly, which generates a disturbing effect for the person. Given this information that had been repressed, different components are born such as: emotions, thoughts, present consciousness or physical sensations.
Faced with this, the criteria that govern this selection are that the person can withstand high levels of disturbance and the dissociative symptoms that occur.
Once it has been assessed that the treatment is appropriate for the patient, a search will be made for identify traumatic eventswhich have given rise to the present symptoms, and the most important ones will be chosen.
Subsequently, a treatment plan must be developed, which is based on the “Three-pronged Protocol”, composed of elements from the past, present and future.
- Past: the events in the past that have led the person to their current dysfunction are analyzed.
- Present: what elements currently promote disturbance are assessed.
- Future: the aim is to establish a positive pattern of cognition, with the aim of establishing more appropriate responses.
2. Preparation
The second phase of EMDR therapy involves preparing the patient. When working with events that generate a great emotional impact on the person, it is vitally important that a patient-therapist therapeutic alliance is established. Furthermore, the therapist must explain the bases of therapy, which will have been adapted to the patient in question. On the other hand, you will be exposed to the different types of bilateral stimulation that can occur, which will be explained later, in order to decide which one will result.
3. Evaluation
This stage of EMDR aims to uncover the traumatic memory, thereby accessing the thoughts, emotions and physical sensations that are awakened by it. In this phase, the therapist asks you what image you associate with the traumatic event and what cognitions appear in front of this image. Faced with this, the therapist will ask the person to look for a positive thinking to replace negative thinking. This new thought should represent what the patient would like to think about the event or about oneself, since these incidents tend to cause negative beliefs about self-reference.
Subsequently, the patient must rate from 1 to 7 (7 being the maximum true and 1 false) to what degree they feel the positive thought when they visualize the memory.
Lastly, the person identifies the emotions that arise in response to the traumatic event, using the Subjective Unit of Disturbance Scale (SUD), which includes scores from 0 to 10 (0 being the minimum discomfort and 10 the maximum). ).
4. Desensitization
In this phase of EMDR, once everything that appears (emotions, cognitions and physical sensations) in the face of the traumatic experience is known, the person is asked to imagine the memory, allowing the emotions, cognitions and associated physical sensations to appear.
Faced with this, the therapist begins the bilateral stimulationthat is, establishes a set of finger movements, quickly at eye level of the person, for 30-40 seconds, instructing the patient to follow the finger with their gaze. Once each bilateral stimulation process is completed, the person is asked to express the thoughts or emotions that have been presented.
5. Installation of positive cognition
The goal of this phase of EMDR is associate selected positive cognition with the traumatic event. The aim is for the patient to bring the image of the traumatic experience to their mind and associate it with positive cognition, while another round of bilateral stimulation occurs. In this case, the stimulation time period is shorter, 10-12 movements.
6. Body scan
Once the person has worked on desensitization of the traumatic event and it has been associated with positive cognition, the person You should explore whether you still feel any physical sensations. If they are present, you must go back in the process until they disappear.
7. Closure
In this phase of EMDR, the therapist must explain the possible effects that may appear after discontinuing therapy. It is common for new cognitions or bad dreams to occur. Faced with this, the therapist recommends a set of strategies to cope such situations.
8. Reassessment
It is vitally important to give rise to a re-evaluation, to observe the effectiveness of the therapy from the previous sessions. This reevaluation allows us to establish when it is necessary to resume any stage of the protocol or if the therapy is concluded.