Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing or “EMDR” as it is popularly called is a relatively new treatment in the sense that it was developed in the 1980’s into the ’90’s by psychologist Francine Shapiro. Despite its relatively recent arrival on the therapy scene, it already has a large body of scientific literature supporting the effectiveness of EMDR in the treatment of trauma and in helping people resolve psychological, emotional and behavioral difficulties stemming from their survival of traumatic experiences.
The theory behind EMDR is that trauma becomes encoded in the nervous system differently than non-traumatic memories. Interestingly, research by psychiatrist Dr. Bessel van der Kolk supports the idea that our brains process trauma differently than they do non-traumatic experiences.
These traumatic memories become stuck in our brains in a very raw, unprocessed way with many of the original images, sounds, smells, etc and because of this, they become a blockage to the nervous system so that the nervous system doesn’t function correctly.
What Dr. Shapiro discovered was that the alternating stimulation to the two hemispheres of the brain that occurs during EMDR causes a rapid processing of the stuck, traumatic material and this allows the mind to take what is useful from the experience and eliminate the rest. When used correctly, it can help people heal from trauma very quickly – much more quickly than through traditional talking therapy. It has thus been referred to as “a rapid information processing approach.”
On a side note, early members of the EMDR International Association (EMDRIA) reached out to Dr. Neuger to serve as a consultant as they were developing their organization’s ethical standards of practice. At the time, Dr. Neuger was providing workshop training at regional workshops of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis on “Ethics in the Use of Hypnosis.”
As with any treatment tool, EMDR is only as good and as effective as the hand that is wielding it. When inquiring with a provider about their EMDR services, please do not hesitate to ask the provider about their training and experience with EMDR. They should be more than happy to discuss this with you. Dr. Neuger has received EMDR Level I and Level II training from the EMDRIA. In fact, the Level II training was from Francine Shapiro herself and Dr. Neuger has been using EMDR successfully in his practice for 2 decades now.