What could be the connection between eye movement and our emotional state? It turns out that our eyes can help us … heal from severe emotional trauma.
History
1987 Experiencing a difficult period in her life – cancer and a divorce from her husband, the American psychologist Francine Shapiro experienced real suffering: she was tormented by obsessive fears and nightmares. One day, while walking in the park, she noticed that quick movements of her eyes from left to right alleviate her condition.
She continued the research, which confirmed: the method helps with post-traumatic stress. Shapiro did her PhD in Eye Movement Desensitization and Trauma Processing (EMT), and in 2002 received the Sigmund Freud Prize, the most prestigious award in the field of psychotherapy.
Definition
EMDR is a psychotherapeutic technique that is used in the treatment of emotional trauma. It is designed primarily for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction syndrome or depression caused by the loss of a loved one.
At the moment of injury (accident, terrorist attack, natural disaster, physical or moral violence), the human brain remembers all the details related to this event.
Memories of them continue to haunt him, unnerving him.
The EMDR method helps to improve the client’s condition, allowing you to identify the feelings and images associated with the painful experience of trauma, and change the perception of this event.
Operating principle
The EMDR method is based on the neurological concept of psychological trauma and allows you to speed up healing with a word. A traumatic event blocks the processes of self-regulation of the psyche: images, sounds or bodily sensations associated with a painful experience seem to “get stuck” in it, so that a person experiences horror, pain, fear and helplessness again and again.
Eye movement helps to synchronize the rhythms of the cerebral hemispheres. And eye movements from side to side cause alternate activation of the hemispheres and synchronous processing of information. The processes of natural self-regulation are restored, and the brain completes its work on its own.
Progress
After explaining the plan of action to the client, the therapist suggests that he first think about something good. Next, a “target” is selected: some event from the past that haunts him, or a current situation that serves as a subject of concern (phobias or anxiety attacks).
Focusing on the painful situation, the client focuses on the therapist’s hand moving from left to right. During each session, he must follow 15 such rhythmic movements, wide and precise (the span is about one meter wide).
In the pauses between exercises, you can talk about this event and assess the intensity of the emotion experienced about it.
Classes are held until the client notes a decrease in the severity of the experience.
During the procedure, the specialist also helps to form new, positive images instead of those that were associated with the injury. The memory of the trauma does not disappear, but it stops hurting the person.
Indications for use
For those who experience severe post-traumatic stress (after a terrorist attack, violence or disaster), as well as in the case when an event in the past left a painful memory. This technique can also help with disorders such as drug addiction, anorexia or depression.
Contraindications: severe mental conditions, some diseases of the heart and eyes.
How long? How much is?
EMDR is often used in combination with other methods and helps to de-stress and speed up the healing process. EMDR is not used at the first meeting with the client: first, an understanding of the history of the disease and the nature of the symptoms must be obtained. Sometimes one session is enough.