I was called in today to complete a lengthy questionnaire by my EMDR therapist.
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing. I think that it works something like this. Horizontal eye movement ( my eyes had to follow the movement of the therapists fingers) activates both hemispheres of the brain and when recall of trauma in stages happens at the same time, then the brain seems to process the trauma, reducing or eliminating the effects from that trauma.
I was a patient as part of an NHS study into the effectiveness of EMDR, a couple of years ago. We worked on two major traumas from my life with very good results. Today was follow up research to see how well the EMDR had worked in the long term. I can tell you, that for me, on a scale of 0-10 I have 0 effects from these traumas, except maybe a 1 for one of them on the odd occasion. The therapist said that it had been an amazing result from all but 1 of the patients treated and the results had been maintained over a number of years.
So today was weird, because the questionnaire was the same as one I had filled in at the beginning and end of my treatment and I could see how far I had come or even how bad I was then. I am just so thankful to be beyond those days. I have learnt much about myself from my experiences and feel stronger and better equipped to deal with my daily life.
There is plenty on the internet about EMDR and this was one site I found that was fairly understandable if you wanted to read more, EMDR site.
I’m fascinated by psychology, which is how I ended up in my old job. This research sounds really interesting. It’s good to hear that you have found that it’s helped deal with traumas you have faced.
Good luck and health for the future xxx