Eye Moving Therapy (EMDR)

At Absolute Mind Milton Keynes, I use a range of therapies to ensure my clients get the very best treatment for whatever issue they propose to me.

One of the interventions I utilise is Eye Moving Therapy. This is extremely effective when treating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and shares most of it’s powerful characteristics with the world known therapy intervention (EMDR) Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing.

Typically, when dealing with traumas using Eye Moving Therapy we generally focus on 2-4 sessions at weekly intervals to aid the release of the trapped, usually visual disturbance.

The History Of EMDR

The effective intervention (EMDR) emerged accidentally in 1987 by a respected American Clinical Psychologist and researcher, Dr Francine Shapiro.

She made the discovery from a unexpected incident and quickly came to the realisation that eye movements can reduce the intensity of disturbing thoughts and feelings under certain conditions. Dr Shapiro studied this scientifically.

In the 1989 edition of The Journal of Traumatic Stress, she reported success using EMDR in treating victims of severe trauma.

Since then, EMDR has developed rapidly and has been widely researched and equally effective variations of this intervention have been trained to therapist worldwide with outstanding results treating Post Traumatic Stress Disorders and similar disturbing visual traumas.

Who is EMDR For?

When people suffer from traumas they may experience such strong emotions the brain is overloaded with an array of information. As a result, the brain is not able to breakdown, process or cope with the information as it does ordinarily.

Thus, a distressing experiences become ‘frozen in time’. This information is stored in the brain in the original ‘raw’ form and can re occur as action replays, visual traumas or nightmares of the memory.

When remembering a trauma, it may feel as bad as experiencing it the first time because the images, sounds, smells, and feelings haven’t changed and remain in the same state as when they occurred. Such memories of these traumas can have a lasting negative effect on the way people see themselves, the world and other people.

EMDR and the brain

EMDR seems to directly influence the way that the brain functions and processes information. It helps to restore and clear the unhelpful blockages of negative information which can occur through traumas.

Once treated using EMDR, memories of the event are still available to the person, however the emotions becomes detached and the event is no longer painful or upsetting whenever recalling.

How Does EMDR Work?

By using a method of following an object with the eyes in a side to side pattern this allows the process of EMDR to mimic what the brain does naturally on a daily basis during dreaming or REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. As such, EMDR can be thought of as an inherently natural therapy which assists the brain in working through distressing material.

Research studies have shown that EMDR can markedly accelerate the healing process after a traumatic experience and that the effects are long-lasting. There are now more scientifically controlled studies on the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with EMDR than with any other intervention.