Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy is a trauma-oriented and brain-based psychological therapy that has been extensively researched and used by professionals for over 35 years.
EMDR assists people who have had traumatic or disturbing life experiences in the past, which are impeding their ability to function optimally in the present. Trauma interferes with the brain’s natural ability to process difficult memories adaptively. These memories remain unprocessed – almost frozen in time – and are stored in a state-specific, maladaptive form, along with the associated emotions, cognitions or thoughts and bodily memories experienced during the event. When left unresolved, these dysfunctional stored memories can emerge in the form of flashbacks, nightmares, intrusive thoughts, anxiety, or a re-experiencing of the trauma. They may also lead to avoidance of certain things that trigger reminders of the original trauma.
EMDR Therapy activates the brain’s ability to reprocess these distressing memories adaptively for them, allowing them to become integrated and resolved. This allows the traumatised individual to experience relief from troubling symptoms and to regain their ability to function optimally.
EMDR Therapy addresses a wide range of trauma-related clinical difficulties caused by disturbing life events, as well as clinical presentations including chronic pain, phobias, self-esteem and depression and anxiety, to name a few. EMDR Therapy has been successfully used in different global settings and cultures, and it has gained recognition as a treatment of choice for trauma by the World Health Organisation (WHO) since 2013.
EMDR Therapy helps children, adolescents, and adults of all ages. EMDR Therapy is used to address a wide range of psychological conditions and life-related difficulties, including:
EMDR Therapy is an eight-phase, three-pronged approach looking at the past, present and future.
During Phase One – history taking – the therapist and client collaborate and agree upon the current symptoms that need to be addressed and identify the underlying trauma memories that underpin those symptoms.
Phase Two focuses on the preparation for the processing of the trauma memories. This entails the development and/or strengthening of inner resources and self-regulation skills.
Phases Three to Eight focus on the processing of disturbing memories. Whilst working with a specific memory, consideration is given to how the client feels, believes, and experiences the emotion in their body, at the present time. The client is asked to focus on a specific type of bilateral stimulation. The periods of exposure to the memory are usually brief and manageable. This procedure is understood to stimulate the brain’s adaptive information processing system, reducing the vividness and disturbing associated emotions to reach a more adaptive resolution. Thereafter, if there are other related memories, these too are targeted in the same manner.
The client and therapist then proceed to target current triggers related to the original traumas that evoke disturbing reactions in the present. These reactions can include flashbacks, nightmares, anxiety, unstable mood states and body symptoms, which usually cause the client to avoid certain situations or experiences.
Finally, once the targeted past and present memories have been successfully reprocessed, EMDR shifts its focus to potential future challenges. This is to reduce any residual anticipatory anxiety or avoidance. At the end of EMDR Therapy, current disturbing symptoms are resolved, the underlying trauma memories are no longer distressing, new insights are gained, and the client is able to function at an optimal level.
EMDR Therapy is a highly structured process, focused on alleviating disturbing symptoms. Unlike other psychotherapies, the EMDR Therapy process does not require talking in detail about the distressing memories. Instead, it assists the client’s brain to naturally resolve the memories, ultimately reducing or eliminating the symptoms.
EMDR Therapy is conducted during 60 to 90-minute sessions and does not require the client to engage in lengthy homework assignments between sessions. The evidence suggests that EMDR Therapy can be concluded in fewer sessions with lasting results, compared to other psychotherapies.
EMDR Therapy was developed by Francine Shapiro in 1987 when she noticed that spontaneous eye movements appeared to reduce the intensity of upsetting thoughts, memories and feelings, allowing for a more adaptive, rational response and resolution. She initially studied this effect as a way to reduce anxiety in trauma survivors, calling this “EMD”. In 1989, Shapiro published her first controlled study of EMD in the Journal of Traumatic Stress, with the subjects being sexual assault survivors and veterans. Through further development and research, EMD has been transformed from a simple desensitisation technique for treating anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to an all-embracing psychotherapy approach that deals with a wide range of trauma-related clinical difficulties in diverse populations.
Francine Shapiro continued to dedicate her clinical knowledge and experience to developing EMDR Therapy. Just before she died in 2019, the Council of Scholars of the Future of EMDR Therapy Project began work to progress the future of EMDR Therapy. The Council is made up of roughly 40 international EMDR expert scholars and researchers. Additionally, the EMDR Global Alliance (EMDR Therapy’s International Society) has been established to uphold standards and facilitate the growth of EMDR Therapy worldwide. EMDR South Africa is a member of this Global Alliance.
EMDR Therapy has been widely researched using randomised controlled trials (RCTs), non-randomised controlled studies, and meta-analyses. This has resulted in its recognition as an evidence-based, effective psychotherapy by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Kingdom’s National Institute for Health Care and Excellence (NICE), the American Psychiatric Association and various Veteran and Defense Departments. Multiple global organisations also acknowledge and approve the effectiveness of EMDR Therapy.
The answer is NO. EMDR Therapy is a psychotherapeutic mental health intervention, and as such should only be provided in South Africa by trained and registered mental health clinicians with a Master’s degree, i.e. Clinical, Counselling and Educational Psychologists, Clinical Social Workers or Psychiatrists.
The EMDR South Africa Association does not endorse the use of EMDR Therapy by anyone who is not trained by accredited EMDR Trainers.