In Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, I start by exploring your history and the feelings/beliefs around the distressing/disturbing event you wish to work with. Once you feel ready, the process will be explained, and only when you are ready, EMDR will begin with your permission. It is a simple process where I will ask you to follow my finger whilst keeping your head still, leading your eyes from left to right, followed by tapping the palms of your hand. It is a very effective confusion technique, allowing you to release the emotion from a distressing event. The release of emotion is measured by using a SUD scale (SUD = Subjective Unit of Distress). The process is repeated until the distress is reduced as much as possible.
EMDR therapy is a psychotherapy approach that has been extensively researched and proven effective for the treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and trauma (distressing events or beliefs).
What is a trauma
A trauma is a deeply distressing and disturbing experience which falls outside the range of usual human experience, either human-made such as physical or sexual abuse, war, car accidents or witnessing the injury of someone else, or from natural traumatic events such as floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions.
Traumas can be categorised as ‘Big’ T’s or ‘Little’ T’s. A Big T is an event which is classed as traumatic or distressing such as a plane crash or unexpected sudden death of a loved one. A Little T is a traumatic event experienced on a personal level, such as a relationship breakup or a loss of a pet. When there has been a build-up of lots of little traumas this can then equal a big trauma.
