What is EMDR?

Maybe you’ve heard about EMDR, or you’ve read in my website where I’ve referenced it. So, you may want to know what it is, and why I use it at times.

First EMDR in an acronym for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. 

First of all, Eye movement refers to “bilateral stimulation” or “dual attention stimuation (DAS)”. This means I wave a finger or pointer at you, and you follow it with your eyes from left to right (or up to down, or even diagonally.)

Or, we can use an auditory source with headphones (I ask you to bring your own in these days of COVID awareness) where you hear a tone alternating from your left to your right ear. 

I am in the process of purchasing a set of “tappers.” These are small devices that you hold in your hands and they alternately vibrate from left to right hands.

EMDR basically lets you bring up a stressful memory and then with dual awareness process the memory while also attending to the pointer or audio input or “tappers.” You don’t need to describe in detail the traumatic memory. We definitely do not want you to re-experience it thus being traumatized again.

For some clients, especially those with more extensive trauma histories most likely early childhood “developmental trauma” may need more preparation work before beginning to process traumatic memories. 

We have to look through that as we begin to work together.