EMDR therapy
EMDR therapy is a clinical approach which started to be developed during the 80s in the US, in order to give a new and effective treatment to the war veterans who came back to their country suffering from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), acute stress as a result of the war, and many social violence aftermaths. Here is the institutional logo of the VA (War Veterans Association):
You don't have to be a soldier to suffer emotional trauma: you can suffer an assault, the loss of a loved one, be exposed to violent situations, you can experience an attack and assault, either once or systematically and repeatedly. If you are a foreigner or an expat, you probably have social and cultural adjustment challenges, and that is really stressful and anxiety generating. EMDR could be of great help to you. Do you want to do it online? Don't worry: EMDR therapy is not only available in a traditional onsite session with your therapist, but it can be used as well as online therapy with the same efficiency.
With my clients I use just internet video call apps like Skype, Zoom, Jitsi meet and a computer headset. This is a great advantage in times of Corona or if a client needs help quickly and regardless of where he lives.
What are the PTSD symptoms? Let’s watch a brief video:
How it works?
After some trials and treatments, there were developed different kind of clinical protocols so that treating other affections too: depression, phobias, anxiety, OCD (obsessive compulsory disorder) and so on.
Repeated measures analyses showed that participants in experimental groups with EMDR had significant improvements in their trauma symptoms and behavioral problems compared with the ones who did not receive EMDR therapy, even during the follow-up period.
Besides, the National Institute of Mental Health of the United States (NIMH) asserts: 'EMDR therapy provides physicians and other clinicians with an efficient approach to address psychological and physiologic symptoms stemming from adverse life experiences. Clinicians should therefore evaluate patients for experiential contributors to clinical manifestations.'
According to the American Psychological Association (APA), during EMDR therapy, clinical observations suggest that an accelerated learning process is stimulated by EMDR’s procedures, which incorporate the use of eye movements and other forms of bilateral stimulation (e.g., tones or taps). While clients briefly focus on the trauma memory and simultaneously experience bilateral stimulation (BLS), the vividness and emotion of the memory are reduced. Watch the video ut Supra.
Today, with the massive global effect of Covid pandemics, not only different kind of disorders have had a sharp increase, but also we are ready to set EMDR online with specific software in order to get the best patient-therapist experience.
Sources:
American Psychological Association (APA) website: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy. Link: https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/treatments/eye-movement-reprocessing#
EMDR Institute (US). What is EMDR? Link: https://www.emdr.com/what-is-emdr/
Farkas, L., Cyr, M., Lebeau, T.M. et al. Effectiveness of MASTR EMDR Therapy for Traumatized Adolescents. Journ Child Adol Trauma 3, 125–142 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1080/19361521003761325
Neurobiological response to EMDR therapy in clients with different psychological traumas. Front. Psychol., 27 October 2015 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01614
Shapiro, Francine (2014). The Role of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy in Medicine: Addressing the Psychological and Physical Symptoms Stemming from Adverse Life Experiences. Perm J. 2014 Winter; 18(1): 71–77. DOI: 10.7812/TPP/13-098