What is ... Eye Movement Densensitisation and Reprocessing (EDMR)?

EMDR is an 8 phase psychotherapy treatment, originally developed in 1987, by psychologist Francine Shapiro, to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and is now used to treat other mental health illnesses and disorders too. Although EMDR refers to eye movement EMDR therapy EMDR therapy uses other forms of bilateral stimulation which can include auditory sounds or tapping.

EMDR is a psychotherapy that enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences.

Repeated studies show that by using EMDR therapy people can experience the benefits of psychotherapy that once took years to make a difference. It is widely assumed that severe emotional pain requires a long time to heal.

EMDR therapy shows that the mind can in fact heal from psychological trauma much as the body recovers from physical trauma. When you cut your hand, your body works to close the wound. If a foreign object or repeated injury irritates the wound, it festers and causes pain. Once the block is removed, healing resumes.

EMDR therapy demonstrates that a similar sequence of events occurs with mental processes. The brain’s information processing system naturally moves toward mental health. If the system is blocked or imbalanced by the impact of a disturbing event, the emotional wound festers and can cause intense suffering. Once the block is removed, healing resumes.

More than 30 positive controlled outcome studies have been done on EMDR therapy. Some of the studies show that 84%-90% of single-trauma victims no longer have post-traumatic stress disorder after only three 90-minute sessions. Another study, funded by the HMO Kaiser Permanente, found that 100% of the single-trauma victims and 77% of multiple trauma victims no longer were diagnosed with PTSD after only six 50-minute sessions. In another study, 77% of combat veterans were free of PTSD in 12 sessions.

EDMR is an effective form of treatment for trauma

There has been so much research on EMDR therapy that it is now recognised as an effective form of treatment for trauma and other disturbing experiences by organisations such as the American Psychiatric Association, the World Health Organisation and the Department of Defence.

A 2018 scientific analysis found that EMDR is more effective than other forms of treatment at reducing symptoms of PTSD and other trauma.

Moreover, studies have shown 77%-90% of people with PTSD no longer had the condition after 3-12 sessions of EMDR.

The World Health Organization (WHO) lists EMDR therapy as the first-line treatment for PTSD. The Department of Veterans Affairs also says that EMDR is one of the most effective treatments for PTSD.

EMDR therapy enables processing of traumatic memories to enable the mind and the body to heal in a natural way. If the mind and body is unable to recover from the traumatic incident without a little extra help, EMDR is a non intrusive evidence based treatment for PTSD. EMDR therapy is also used as a mainstream treatment for anxiety, phobias and PTSD.

EMDR can be used to treat:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• PTSD/CPTSD
• Phobias
• Eating disorders & weight issues
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
• Chronic pain
• Addiction
• Stress
• Grief
• Insomnia