What is Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprogramming therapy? What could be the mechanism by which its bilateral stimulation relieves the disturbances from trauma?

In this episode we have the fascinating technique of EMDR psychotherapy to look into. This is another show, like the Parenting by Connection episode #18, that’s close to home, as I personally have had extraordinary results with this method. Developed from the 80’s onwards by Francine Shapiro, Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing uses a bilateral brain hemisphere stimulation, similar to the pre-REM sleep state, to lower the physiological reaction in the present, following traumatic experiences in the past. The reason I was so struck by the method and wanted to share the science of it here, is how the model works physiologically on the reprogramming of traumatic memories, with more or less instant results - results that might take years using traditional talky therapies. Why this ‘straight to the point’ method works though is still not clear to scientists, so it will be interesting to hear the different theories.

Who better to tell us all about it than EMDR therapist ex-president of EMDR Europe and the president of EMDR Italy, Dr. Isabel Fernandez. As well as more than 20 years treating patients with EMDR and training tens thousands of therapists, she sits on several boards of organisations studying science of psychotraumatology, like the Society of Traumatic Stress Studies. She has written various scientific papers, books and chapters on EMDR and trauma too.

What we discuss:

00:00 Intro

06:10 Trauma with a big ’T’ (threat to life) and a little ’t’ (interpersonal)

09:20 The risk of a ‘victim’ complex, lowering resilience if we focus on even little ’t’ trauma

10:00 You reach resilience through addressing and integrating trauma 

11:20 Our innate ability to process adverse experience information and the overwhelming of that in PTSD 

15:30 Bilateral eye movement stimulation helps the completion of our innate memory integration ability

18:25 You do need to remember the memory to work on it, but often it arises by association rather than actively remembering it

21:00 Bilateral stimulation of the left and right hemisphere: visual, sensory and auditory versions

23:00 Pre-Rem Sleep is similar to the EMDR state

26:30 Proved to be faster than other therapies, therefore more cost effective for the state health services

28:15 Its functioning is not yet completely understood: the leading theories 

32:40 Iain McGilchrist’s left right hemisphere interpretation (See Episode #15) 

36:45 A meta analysis - Bilateral stimulation much more effective than non-bilateral stimulation, just therapy 

39:30 Adaptive information - 1. Processing of the past 2. De-sensitisation of disturbance the present 3. Imaginal future events 

50:15 EMDR for kids with traumatic experiences from 2 years old

51:45 Applications for collective mass trauma: war, pandemics, floods and earthquakes

52:45 The key is to work with bilateral stimulation during the acute phase of the trauma

55:00 Bringing EMDR to the Police, the military and the hospitals

References: 

Frontiers in Psychology: Slow Wave Sleep/ Pre-Rem Sleep similarities with EMDR State

American Psychological Association: Neural Basis of EMDR Therapy

Nature: Neural Circuits involved in EMDR suppressing fear response

American Psychological Association: Chris Lee, Meta-analysis of efficacy and speed of EMDR

PubMed: Meta-analysis of treatment of sexual abuse in children and adolescents

EMDREurope.com

EMDR.com

EMDR.it