EMDR: How and Why?

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro, was a nontraditional and quite new style of psychotherapy in the late 80’s when it came my way. It rapidly became popular, especially for treating PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and any kind of other smaller ‘T’ trauma.  It has proven to be highly efficient and fast for assisting people who have been suffering for years from symptoms that make their lives difficult and even dysfunctional.

As the name says, it is based on the patient’s rhythmic eye movements. It is said that when alternating the eye movements from side to side you stimulate both sides of the brain. The result is an evident reduction in the distress of the traumatic memories. On the other hand, the mind gets into a fast forward processing mode, offers new associations and captures what was happening in a much clearer way; it reframes the original meaning we gave to the traumatic event. In short, we understand things differently and what happened means something different for us. The new processed information is then ‘saved’ in a different place of the brain making a more functional experience possible so that you can utilize your own inner resources to go on living in a better and more serene way.

I had just been diagnosed with MS (Multiple Sclerosis). The words had stuck like tattoos in my brain: “Incurable, Degenerative, Progressive, Debilitating”. Orthodox medicine had nothing to offer me. Go home, put your things in order… and order yourself a wheelchair, I was told.

I was at a friend’s house in Cuernavaca, Mexico, when an American therapist whose specialty was EMDR came to visit. She was very interested in bringing EMDR to Mexico, would I help her? I had heard wonders about this modality but I had never experienced it myself. She offered to give me a session. I was in shock from the terrible news I had just received, evidently I accepted her assistance. I had a unique experience.

I loved that I hardly had to say much about what had happened to me in order to have the process occur and switch me and my experience internally.

It was a fascinating trip, like being taken on an ascending spiral. We started at a distressing memory and the negative belief I had acquired at that moment, along with the sensations and feelings that the image stirred in me. My mind very fast associated, remembered and re-experienced. Like in a huge tsunami, I went up in distress and down to deeply experienced fear, despair and helplessness. Then, as if the wave had swiped the shore clean, somehow, as if by magic, something inside me shifted; what started as “My life is over”, became an open question: “What now?”  I had found the strength to go on. That shift was something that came from the depths, or heights, of my soul not from my logical mind. Right there and then I stopped suffering and started searching for what became my life from then on.  I became an EMDR therapist myself and have helped and treated many people with it, especially those facing bad news of any kind or a difficult diagnosis.

33 years after I started that journey, I finally put my experience in writing in HOPE BEYOND ILLNESS where I offer a guide (with EMDR self-help tools at a high place) to help people live WELL with whatever cards were dealt to them.

You may be fortunate to be living in a healthy body. But, in general, what person alive does not have some chronic discomfort? Maybe part of being an adult is that life itself becomes a “chronic condition”. In this book I share everything I found to help myself and others deal till you ‘heal’… in the true sense of the word.

I would like to share with you the Tip # 1 from Chapter # 1: “A Needle In A Haystack”

Tip to help yourself:

Fear and panic from what is happening must be the greatest thing we have to deal with and overcome in life in general, and especially when faced with illness.

For moments of deep fear let me share this extremely effective and useful tool for releasing fear and building resilience.

The Butterfly Hug:

This technique is an amazing tool to help you let go of heavy emotions or prevent being overwhelmed by stress, grief, shock or trauma. It is part of the EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) process and it has been successfully utilized by practitioners especially to help children soothe their disturbing emotions in the aftermath of trauma by war and natural disaster.

How it is done:

Cross your arms over your chest and tap on each shoulder (or arm) alternating in a rhythmic way. This is called bi-lateral stimulation. By rhythmically alternating the tapping on both sides of the body you help the brain process the disturbing memories (and the overwhelming emotions that those memories evoke) so that the information can be stored in a better, more functional and calmer way.

Process:

a) Cross your arms across your chest as if you were giving yourself a hug. Each one of your hands lands on the opposite shoulder or arm.

b) Notice your upsetting emotion, whatever it may be (sadness, fear, anger) and score it from 0-neutral to 10-extreme distress, in order to be able to track it and watch it shift.

c) Start tapping alternately on each side (each shoulder or arm) for about 20 seconds while focusing on the negative feelings, the image, or the negative thoughts that come up and you want to release. After about 20 seconds or taps, stop and take a deep breath.

Ask yourself again, on a scale from 0 to 10, where are you now? You will find that the level of intensity may go up at first, and then it will gradually start to go down. Keep doing this until you feel the level of intensity drop to a significantly lower level. Depending on the emotions you are dealing with and the reason you are experiencing them, you may even notice that the emotion completely disappears.

This is a very simple way to process and soothe difficult emotions. You could use it as a family or group activity/process, sharing it with children or family members who are going through some traumatic or painful event. You will gather double benefits by both:

• soothing the difficult emotions as a family or group
• and just sharing this bonding activity.

Shulamit Lando, TheraCoach (Psychotherapist, Life and Medical Coach) and author of HOPE BEYOND ILLNESS—A guide to living WELL with a chronic condition.