EMDR – the therapy helping millions
What do Miley Cyrus, Sandra Bullock, Mel B, Kate Garraway and Natasha Kaplinsky have in common? They’ve all used EMDR therapy to help them through trauma.
EMDR – the therapy helping millions
What do Miley Cyrus, Sandra Bullock, Mel B, Kate Garraway and Natasha Kaplinsky have in common? They’ve all used EMDR therapy to help them through trauma.
Millions of people worldwide, including many with post-traumatic stress disorder, have benefited from eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR), a powerful scientifically proven psychotherapy.
Currently, there are more than 20,000 trained EMDR therapists in the UK. Internationally recognised, EMDR therapy is endorsed by institutions including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
“EMDR therapy helps people recover from traumatic events in their lives which have led to poor mental health. It is best known for its effectiveness in treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but can help with common conditions like depression or anxiety,” explains EMDR UK president Matthew Wesson.
“It can be useful for people who have witnessed or experienced an event like a car accident, a violent crime, sexual or emotional abuse, bullying, a social humiliation or the sudden loss of a loved one. It is widely used by the NHS, charitable organisations and private sector, and the Ministry of Defence use EMDR to help service personnel with PTSD.”
What is EMDR therapy?
EMDR therapy stops difficult memories causing so much distress by helping the brain to reprocess them properly, working with memory to heal the legacy of past pain. EMDR therapy is best known as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but can help with a range of mental health conditions in people of all ages including depression and anxiety.
How does the therapy work?
When a person is involved in a traumatic event, they may feel overwhelmed, and their brain may be unable to fully process what they’re experiencing. The memory of the event seems to become “stuck” so it remains intense and vivid. The person can re-experience what they saw, heard and smelt and the full force of the distress they felt whenever the memory comes to mind.
EMDR therapy aims to help the brain “unstick” and reprocess the memory properly so that it is no longer as intense. It also helps to desensitise the person to the emotional impact of the memory, so they can think about the event without experiencing such strong feelings.
More details can be read here.
Jane’s story
In the summer of 2000, Jane’s 21-year-old daughter Lucie was murdered in a horrible case that made headline news around the world. While working in Tokyo, she was raped, murdered and her body dismembered.
This would have been too much for any parent to cope with, but Jane felt like she was in a waking nightmare. Her mind created awful images of what she imagined having happened, and these went around and around in her head constantly for more than three years. She barely slept, and certain triggers, like the sound of a chainsaw, or a child who looked a bit like Lucie, would cause the images to become overpowering.
Jane had some counselling sessions but they didn’t stop what was going on. She felt she wasn’t moving through a grieving process at all but was trapped in trauma.
Jane’s son also sought professional help to come to terms with what had happened, and it was his psychiatrist who told Jane about EMDR therapy and suggested it might help her.
When Jane saw her EMDR therapist for the first time, he asked her what she thought would make her feel better – Jane knew she just wanted to feel that Lucie was safe now. Jane had four EMDR sessions, but only had to tell her therapist what had happened in the first one. During the following three sessions she focused on the phrase “she’s safe” while thinking about what happened and following the therapist’s fingers back and forth.
That feeling of safety became ingrained. Where, when previously she thought about Lucie she was bombarded by frightening images, now Jane heard a voice saying, “she’s safe”, and the images instantly stopped. The pictures quickly started to come into Jane’s head less frequently and with less emotional power. Jane was able to think about Lucie and feel sad rather than completely traumatised and to progress through the grieving process.
Thanks to EMDR therapy, Jane could focus better on her life. She was able to visit Japan and stand up in court at the trial of Lucie’s killer and give a victim impact statement as he sat opposite her.
Today, when she sees a girl who looks like her daughter or has to think about what happened, Jane still hears the voice telling her, “she’s safe”. “
Quite simply, EMDR gave me my life back,” she says.
“EMDR can help treat a variety of mental health problems like depression or anxiety, especially where a difficult life event has been involved. And it can be useful for people who have witnessed or experienced an event like a car accident, a violent crime, sexual or emotional abuse, bullying, a social humiliation or the sudden loss of a loved one.”
“EMDR can help treat a variety of mental health problems like depression or anxiety, especially where a difficult life event has been involved. And it can be useful for people who have witnessed or experienced an event like a car accident, a violent crime, sexual or emotional abuse, bullying, a social humiliation or the sudden loss of a loved one.”
Michael’s story
A childhood taboo on expressing emotions caused Michael to suffer from PTSD.
A childhood growing up in a home where expressing emotion was taboo had a major impact on Michael’s mental health throughout his life. However, he didn’t know that was at the heart of his suffering or seek help until his early forties having reached a crisis point
“I was feeling low, getting very little sleep, and eventually found I had pretty much stopped experiencing emotional reactions to anything”, he says.
Michael tried Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, but over a period of several years he found the impact was only short-term and didn’t get to the root of the problem.
He began to see another therapist, and after completing an assessment form, she was shocked to find that his scores were above the threshold for post-traumatic stress disorder. Michael was offered EMDR therapy. He says:
“At that point I was willing to give anything a go. I was waking up at 2.00 or 3.00 am and unable to go back to sleep. I had a lot of psychological disturbance, and a whole area of myself felt locked away. I couldn’t explain it. I just knew something was wrong in a major way, and it was sapping all my energy. I was going to work, coming home very tired and going straight to bed. There was no more to my existence than that.”
Through EMDR therapy Michael started being able to access painful memories. It emerged his emotional reactions had been effectively shut down from a young age. His father had a temper and Michael and his brother were not allowed to express anything “negative”. Their mother was also emotionally distant.
Michael loved his grandfather who was a kind man, and what happened when he died was a defining moment. After two evenings of crying, Michael’s mother told him his father said he was not allowed to be unhappy anymore. “It was a terrible thing to do to a nine-year-old child”, says Michael.
“It was like there was another human being – a sad little boy – frozen inside me, which EMDR allowed out. I started having tantrums like a three year old! I was expressing my feelings for the first time, and then, as an adult, learning how to cope with them. I started to make connections. Rather than splitting off the emotional part of myself and denying it, I began to accept that side.”
As part of EMDR therapy, the person needs to establish a “safe place” they can return to in their minds. For Michael it was running through beautiful countryside with his dogs. Then the therapist starts from a traumatic memory, such as Michael being a little boy afraid in the dark, and gradually, staying with that memory during bilateral stimulation – moving the eyes from side to side or alternate tapping – the very scary painful thought changes.
Michael says: “I went from intense fear to a sense that I’m not there anymore, I’m nearly 50, and I’m not dependent on my parents. EMDR therapy allows you to reach an open state where you’re able to transform and heal.”
Every now and then he would report back to the therapist, who guided him. Gradually they worked through and reprocessed each painful memory.
Michael has had a successful career in education and is a head teacher. He says:
“I used to be totally driven at work and became really stressed. There was a voice inside me saying ‘If you do well your parents will be pleased with you’. Since having EMDR therapy I’m taking my working day more steadily and focusing on the important things. I no longer go home a total wreck; I sleep well and I’m able to take enjoyment in life.
“I’ve learned to accept that I will be triggered sometimes and emotions will erupt. I might feel like a rejected child but as an adult I can recognise and manage those emotions in a healthy way.”
For further information about EMDR therapy, and to find an accredited therapist, go to https://emdrassociation.org.uk/find-a-therapist/