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EMDR

EMDR is a highly effective trauma therapy that helps individuals process and heal from distressing memories. Using guided eye movements, EMDR reduces the emotional intensity of past events and supports long-term emotional recovery.

Symptoms

  • Flashbacks of traumatic events

  • Nightmares

  • Hypervigilance

  • Anxiety or panic attacks

  • Depression

  • Phobias or irrational fears

  • Negative self-beliefs (e.g., “I’m not good enough”)

  • Emotional numbness

  • Avoidance of reminders of trauma

  • Startle response

  • Grief and loss symptoms

  • Guilt or shame

  • Low self-esteem

  • Distorted body image (often in eating disorders)

More Details

  • Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing for PTSD is a trauma-focused psychotherapy which is administered over approximately 3 months. This therapy helps a person to reprocess the memory of the trauma so that it is experienced in a different way. After a thorough history is taken and a treatment plan developed the therapist guides the patient through questions about the traumatic memory. Eye movements similar to those in REM sleep is recreated during a session by having the patient watch the therapist’s fingers go back and forth or by watching a light bar. The eye movements last for a brief time period and then stop. Experiences during a session may include changes in thoughts, images, and feelings. After repeated sessions  the memory tends to change and is experienced in a less negative manner.

  • EMDR is a structured therapy that encourages the patient to focus briefly on the trauma memory while simultaneously experiencing bilateral stimulation (typically eye movements), which is associated with a reduction in the vividness and emotion associated with the trauma memories. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an extensively researched, effective psychotherapy method proven to help people recover from trauma and PTSD symptoms. Ongoing research supports positive clinical outcomes showing EMDR therapy as a helpful treatment for disorders such as anxiety, depression, OCD, chronic pain, addictions, and other distressing life experiences (Maxfield, 2019). EMDR therapy has even been superior to Prozac in trauma treatment (Van der Kolk et al., 2007). Shapiro and Forrest (2016) share that more than 7 million people have been treated successfully by 110,000 therapists in 130 countries since 2016.

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Langebaan

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Kardia Trauma Research, Training & Therapy Institute (Pty) Ltd.

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© 2021 Kardia Trauma Research, Training & Therapy Institute

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