EMDR Therapy, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), was originally developed to treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and a dual-diagnosis of PTSD and substance abuse. It is now used to treat many other problems, including bipolar, generalized anxiety, eating disorders, phobias, and drug addiction.
How Long Does EMDR Therapy Take?
The amount of time it takes to complete treatment depends on the history of the client, but in general, EMDR works quicker than many other therapies. It is much faster than any other treatment of PTSD.
What Is The Goal of EMDR Therapy?
PTSD is one of the trickiest mental disorders to treat, especially if the client suffers from a dual-diagnosis. The goal of EMDR therapy is to process the experiences causing pain, and to relieve the primary symptoms of PTSD:
- recurrent flashbacks and nightmares
- sleep disturbances
- increased startle response
- physical reactions such as sweating, heart palpitations, panic
How Does EMDR Therapy Work?
Step-1: In the first phase of EMDR treatment, a clinical Morningside EMDR therapist takes a thorough history of the client and develops a treatment plan.
The EMDR therapist will identify the specific problem and symptoms, such as insomnia, irritability, or anger. With this information, the therapist develops a treatment plan that defines the specific targets on which to use EMDR.
EMDR therapy helps process traumatic incidents or experiences that have impaired someone’s life, resulting in suffering, repetitive behavior cycles, and an inability to move forward.
Step-2: Clients are first asked to picture the traumatic event in their head vividly as possible. With this picture in mind, they are asked to describe their reaction to the traumatic event.
Clients are asked to rate their anxiety on a scale from zero to ten, with zero representing no anxiety and ten representing extreme terror.
In addition, they are asked to provide a positive narrative statement that expresses their desired reaction to the image. Clients then rate their degree of belief in this statement on a validity scale (“validity of cognition” or VOC scale).
Step-3: After the imaging stage, clients go through “processing,” which means creating a learning state to allow experiences that are causing problems to be “processed” and stored appropriately in the mind.
The useful portions of the experience are stored with appropriate emotions. The inappropriate emotions, beliefs, and body sensations are discarded.
The goal of EMDR therapy is to leave clients with healthy behaviors, insight, and feelings.
Research Evidence
Studies have demonstrated that there is a physical response to unresolved thoughts and experiences.
Research of memory has found that when a client experiences trauma, the mind connects these memories to body systems, much like the “muscle memory” experienced by athletes. With painful memories, the body is triggered to respond with a physical reaction to the original event.
EMDR attempts to process these memories and transform them into narrative memory so physical responses disappear.
In other words, an EMDR session is not considered successful until the client can bring up the original target without feeling any physical tension.
EMDR Therapy for Bipolar Disorder
Throughout EMDR sessions, the client’s well-being is paramount. At the end of each EMDR session, the therapist checks with the client to see how they are feeling.
If the processing of the traumatic target was not completed, the EMDR therapist assists the client in using a variety of self-calming techniques to regain a sense of serenity.
The goal is for the client to feel comfortable during EMDR treatment. From Bipolar specialist clients receive support between sessions and often journal or record their experiences while undergoing EMDR therapy.
EMDR Therapy is one of the many tools for bipolar treatment which uses to not only free clients from the symptoms of disorders and addictions but also the painful root causes.
Through integrative EMDR therapy and in the caring climate of Bipolar Treatment, clients develop self-esteem and establish a sense of purpose as they begin to experience their potential to succeed in work or school, and reconnect with loved ones.
Professional psychologists, who have achieved skill on EMDR, specialize in the treatment of PTSD. EMDR enables clients to start their lives over without falling back into their old habits of addiction, as seen in clients with a dual-diagnosis.
Addiction Rehab and recovery programs offer the best treatment for PTSD sufferers. So, you can take the EMDR treatment program and other rehabilitation solutions today.