What is EMDR?

If you’ve heard of Prince Harry and/or Oprah, chances are that you have also heard of EMDR.  Prince Harry shared his experience with this way of doing therapy on the Apple TV show that they share (find it here)

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is one approach to doing counselling.  This type of therapy was developed by Francine Shapiro about 30 years ago as a way of helping you process traumatic experiences or memories. EMDR is evidence-based and proven to be very effective in helping people find help dealing with anxiety, panic attacks, disturbing memories, performance anxiety, sexual and/or physical abuse, complicated grief and stress.

One of the things that I appreciate about this way of doing therapy is that you can process past, difficult memories from a perspective of being a bit removed from it as opposed to being right “in it”.  EMDR combines grounding tools with a practical understanding of how your past experience is affecting your present life. 

Can EMDR help me?

Do you experience anxiety on a regular basis?  Maybe you have recurring painful thoughts and memories you are currently experiencing more than you’d like.  EMDR therapy can help you look back on an event in your life that changed your perspective on life or experience of the world around you. 

What types of problems does EMDR help?

●      anxiety

●      complicated grief such as the death of a family member or pet

●      depression

●      disturbing memories

●      performance anxiety

●      motor vehicle accidents

●      panic attacks

●      post-traumatic stress disorder

●      sexual or physical assault

How does EMDR work?

Before beginning the eye movement and processing, it is important that you start with ensuring that you have practical tools to help you handle and cope with emotionally charged events in your life.  Along with your therapist, you will find ways to help yourself manage disturbing events and emotions that come from them.  These coping tools will help you both in the counselling room and in your daily life.

Once you have those tools in place, your therapist will guide you through a process where you let your brain identify what memories come up that are linked with the combination of your negative belief about yourself, emotions and physical reaction to the event that you are wanting help with.  You will then identify the first, worst and most recent situations to work on together.  You don’t have to process every single memory that comes up, which is such a relief to most of my clients.  As you clear the first memory, it has a trickle effect on the other memories associated with that negative belief, emotion, and physical response.  That trickle effect means that the intensity of your response to those memories will lessen how intensely you are triggered by them. 

As you begin processing your earliest memory, your therapist will sit across from you, and do the hand movements.  As your eyes follow your therapists’ hand movements, you are able to give your full attention to what is going on for you internally.  The goal of EMDR is to bring the level of disturbance associated with your memory so that it is no longer disturbing.  It won’t take away your memory, but it will neutralize your emotional and physical reaction to it.  As you near the end of your session, your therapist will take some time to use your chosen relaxation tools mentioned above before you leave the office. 

There is a specific protocol and method that an EMDR therapist will use as you work through the three memories that you have identified.  There may be times when you stop using the eye movement piece of therapy and talk through some things that have come up.  This would still be in keeping with EMDR though because a majority of clients will find that when they come back to the eye movement, that memory will still have lessened in intensity.  Our brain is an amazing tool!

How long will I be in therapy?

There is a great question that doesn’t have a blanket answer.  The length of treatment depends on a variety of different components.  Since EMDR is typically used to process traumatic events, how long it will take would depend on how much previous trauma you have experienced; what your current life circumstances are; what your support system is like; and how strong you feel within yourself.

Your therapist will require one or more sessions to gain a clinical history and understanding of what brings you to therapy, and set up the targets to work on.  On average, it takes between 2-3 sessions for each target you identify with your counsellor.  There are times when you may decide that EMDR is not the best fit for you, and then talk with your therapist about what approach works best to help you reach your goals for therapy. 

Is EMDR effective?

According to EMDR Canada, “studies have consistently found that EMDR effectively decreases/eliminates the symptoms of post-traumatic stress for the majority of clients.  Clients often report improvement in other associated symptoms such as anxiety.  The current treatment guidelines...designate EMDR as an effective treatment for post-traumatic stress.  Research has also shown that EMDR can be an efficient and rapid treatment.” 

At Panorama Wellness Group, each of us believes that it is important that we have training in methods that are evidence-based.  That, along with the fact that research that has shown that the relationship between you and your therapist is one of the key indicators of whether you will have success in your goals for counselling means that ensuring you have a good fit with your counsellor no matter what method is used to help you reach your goals for counselling.  Not everyone at Panorama offers this way of doing therapy, so if you are specifically looking to use this method, please let our Intake Coordinator know so that she can pair you with the best therapist for you.

Lisa Catallo is the Owner/Director of Panorama Wellness Group and is one of the therapists who provide EMDR therapy.