EMDR, (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a psychotherapeutic technique that is primarily used to help individuals who have experienced trauma or distressing life events. Developed by Francine Shapiro in the late 1980s, and used with great success to treat PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) in Vietnam War veterans. EMDR is designed to clear the distress associated with traumatic memories and promote the processing and integration of these memories in a healthier way.
Bilateral Stimulation is the main active ingredient within EMDR and I would say a broader generic term that includes many other similar working techniques such as Flash technique. Bilateral stimulation can take various forms, including horizontal eye movements (following the therapist's fingers with the eyes), auditory tones presented in alternate ears, or tactile sensations (such as tapping or hand movements). Bilateral stimulation is believed to help the individual process distressing memories by facilitating communication between the left and right hemispheres of the brain.
EMDR and Bilateral Stimulation in general have gained recognition as an effective treatment for PTSD and also used for various other conditions, such as anxiety, depression, and phobias, and have recently been popularised by high-profile advocates such as Prince Harry.
The exact mechanisms of how EMDR works are still a subject of debate within the field of psychology. It’s my personal conviction that EMDR / Bilateral Stimulation works by mimicking the processing that takes place during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) or dream sleep. It’s widely accepted that one of the main functions of dreaming is the processing of unexpressed emotional arousals that are experienced during the day. For example, in the modern world when one experiences the stress response AKA fight or flight, it’s generally not socially acceptable to actually fight or fly so the response is initially suppressed and delayed until sleep, where it is expressed in a metaphorical way.
Over the course of thousands of hours of clinical practice, I have observed that EMDR / Bilateral Stimulation can be applied much more broadly than just clearing trauma, the process can clear all forms of conditioning including triggered responses for a range of issues such as habit cravings / urges, frustration and even confusion / indecisiveness. Basically, anything that triggers an unpleasant or unhelpful feeling.
EMDR and hypnotherapy are perfect complements. As compared with Hypnosis I find that EMDR generally has higher response rates and its conditioning-clearing properties make it more appropriate in the early stages of treatment. Later in treatment hypnosis servers to replace the cleared conditioning with new helpful conditioning. This strategy is what informs my CRT (Conditioning Reset Therapy) protocol which has dramatically improved my success rates.
