Do you know this treatment?
EMDR is an evidence-based psychotherapy which is addressed to traumatic and disturbing adverse life experiences. According to Francine Shapiro (who developed EMDR therapy) the persons can process and integrate what happens to them. But some experiences can´t be processing nor integrating in an adaptive way so these experiences are blocked in the memory networks being able to affect the rest of the adaptive information within emotional, cognitive, somatosensory, and temporal systems.
EMDR therapy gets a decrease or elimination of emotional, somatosensory, cognitive and behavioural symptoms through eight phases and three prongs: past, present and future.
What experiences or events are considered traumatic or disturbing?
There are two types of experiences which are able to be potentially traumatic or disturbing. The first one is some events that endanger the life of the person or a loved-person’s life such as accidents, violence, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, traumatic medical interventions,… as long as the person who suffer from or witness these experiences considers her or his own life is in danger or the loved-person’s life is it.
The other experiences are linked to attachment and interpersonal relationships, that is to say, interpersonal traumas. Interpersonal traumas include a range of situations where the person feels down, confused, embarrassed, maltreated, humiliated, unprotected, etcetera. Includes sexual violence, abuses, bullying, mobbing, rapes, negligence parental, emotional maltreatment,…
Who can beneficiated from EMDR therapy?
The accumulated evidence shows that the persons who can beneficiated from EMDR are who are suffering from PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), substance abuse, depressed or anxiety symptoms. Moreover, if you feel that some past experiences are still affecting to you at the present moment, from several ways (the way you think, you feel or you behave), is probably the EMDR therapy is fit in your problems.
Studies and acknowledgments of EMDR therapy
Over 38 controlled studies dealing with the treatment of severe trauma and post traumatic stress disorders have been able to demonstrate that EMDR psychotherapy stimulates the processing systems and alleviate or eliminate the emotional, cognitive, somatosensory and behavioural symptoms.
The mechanism – by which EMDR therapy works – is still unknown; there are five hypotheses about it, so it is necessary keep on researching.
Are you interested in obtaining more information? You can visit https://emdr-europe.org/
2 minutes of explanation how EMDR works?
9 minutes about an Introduction to EMDR
16 minutes to understand EMDR for PTSD
In order to understand yourself better, you may complete theses scales. One of them evaluate your attachment style, the other one is about emotional regulation. Both concepts (attachment and emotional regulation) are important in EMDR therapy.
Revised Adult Attachment Scale (link)
Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) (link)
Centro Vitae Psicología – 976 21 61 75
C/ Dr. Cerrada 29, 1º Izq. Zaragoza