USING EMDR TO RELIEVE DISTRESS
AND ACHIEVE PEAK PERFORMANCE

EMDR is a powerful process, developed by behavioral psychologist Francine Shapiro, which has helped hundreds of thousands of people overcome the effects of anxiety and emotional distress and to achieve peak performance.

Shapiro developed EMDR, which is only taught to trained clinicians, after a personal discovery.  She found she was less disturbed from thinking of emotional upsets when she repeatedly moved both eyes to the right and then left.

EMDR can be used to resolve memories of past difficult emotional experiences which affect one’s current life such as physical and sexual abuse, rape, repeated business or job losses, relationship losses and prolonged grief. It can also be used to overcome the effects of current problems such as difficulty asking a boss for a raise, building the motivation to do a job search, reducing performance anxiety, setting limits with another person, reducing anxiety and distress, and overcoming phobias and panic attacks.

Examples of results achieved include:
• Reduced extreme anxiety from witnessing a suicide so that thoughts were no longer disturbing
• Reduced extreme anxiety and panic caused by a work incident that kept client from applying for a job; client applied for a job
• Overcame obstacles that kept sales client from making cold calls
• Overcame belief of not being competent
• Overcame fear caused from previous stalking and physical abuse

EMDR is sometimes helpful when talk psychotherapy reaches its limits as it may bring up past events to be processed that did not previously arise. It also helps people achieve their goals through positive imaging or imagining themselves meeting their goals while using EMDR. It is well known that Olympic champions do positive imaging or imagining at least 15 minutes a day. EMDR has been found to make this positive imaging even more effective. After using EMDR, clients often have positive solutions to problems and positive feelings arise naturally in them.

HOW DOES EMDR WORK?

Research is constantly being conducted to understand how EMDR works. It is known that it works on the brain and produces a physiological change on a neurological level. We know that when a person becomes very upset by a difficult emotional experience or trauma, there is an overload on the system and information processing is blocked. There is an overexcitation of the brain and a resulting change of neural elements. It is believed that the upsetting event also prevents REM sleep, the nightly sleep that helps people process normal emotional events of the day.

The neurological blockage causes the incident to remain in the body in its anxiety-producing form along with the original thoughts, feelings, flashbacks or nightmares. Shapiro believes that EMDR unblocks the neural channels in the brain and increases REM sleep, allowing the brain to complete the processing which was blocked by the traumatic event.

EMDR is not hypnosis, and the client feels more in control as s/he is in a different brain wave state than under hypnosis. Research shows that the effects of EMDR are long lasting. One study of 80 subjects with post-traumatic stress showed they improved significantly with EMDR and the beneficial effect remained for at least 15 months.

HOW LONG DOES EMDR TAKE?

One or more sessions are needed for the therapist to understand the problem to be solved.  A typical course of treatment may be three to ten EMDR sessions, each 60 or 90 minutes long.  EMDR, often used in conjunction with talk therapy, may take longer, depending on the nature of the trauma and how many times it or related traumas occurred. 

WHAT IS AN EMDR SESSION LIKE?

Typically, the client is guided to find a safe place in her/his mind such as a place in the mountains, by the water or at home. This is to relax the client and provide a safe internal place for the client to go in case any of the material experienced is disturbing. The client always has the option of stopping the session any time s/he pleases. Then the client is asked to describe the disturbing information in detail as well as related emotions, body sensation and any negative self-assessment that resulted from the incident such as “I’m trapped,” “I’m powerless,” etc.

Depending on the clients preferred method of taking in information, s/he is directed to process the experience using eye movements, sounds in alternate ears using earphones, or with handles which stimulate each hand with a vibration. The idea is to obtain bilateral brain stimulation with these methods. After the disturbance is reduced, the client is then asked to imagine the event as s/he would have liked it to happen and continue with the eye movements, sounds or hand sensations.  The client tells what they are experiencing and is guided through the experience. 

After an issue is worked through, clients typically feel empowered, less anxious, lighter, more positive and relieved. Having removed their blocks, they are able to move forward with the life changes they wish to make. EMDR does not work for everyone, but the powerful process has helped thousands of people overcome the effects of anxiety and emotional distress and achieve peak performance.