psychological therapies........EMDR

 

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) is a powerful psychological technique, which uses bilateral brain stimulation, such as eye movements, to reduce many types of emotional distress. Such distress may be caused by trauma or disturbing experiences, stress and anxiety.

How does EMDR work ?

When an individual is traumatised, they experience such strong emotions that it is thought to overwhelm the brain. Normal brain functioning or processing is interrupted and the memories of the trauma seem to become "frozen in time". An individual consequently often painfully relives the event and subsequently becomes very distressed. They do all they can to avoid reminders of the event. Their lives may be affected generally.

EMDR seems to directly influence the way that the brain functions. It helps to restore normal ways of dealing with problems, (i.e. information processing). Following successful EMDR treatment, memories of the event are no longer painful when brought to mind. What happened can still be recalled, but it is less upsetting. EMDR appears to mimic what the brain does naturally on a daily basis during dreaming or REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. EMDR can be thought of as an inherently natural therapy, which assists the brain in working through distressing material.

Is EMDR effective ?

Research studies have shown that EMDR can markedly accelerate the healing process after a traumatic experience and that the effects are long lasting. In fact, there are now more scientifically controlled studies on the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorders with EMDR than with any other form of psychological treatment. EMDR is now also used for problems other than trauma. EMDR is highly effective, preferred by clients and generally of shorter duration than other treatment methods.

Therapists trained in using EMDR practicing at The Heath:

Felix Economakis

Vanessa Schelderup

Christina Linger

 

 

EMDR Practitioners at The Heath Mind Body Therapies London NW3, we specialise in counselling for anxiety, counselling for depression, counselling for relationships, counselling for anger management, stopping smoking and many more conditions using psychological therapies, hypnotherapy, NLP and other interventions.