Have you suffered a traumatic life event that has left you with distressing emotional and bodily symptoms? Do you suffer from phobias or anxieties in a particular area of your life?
Usually, when people experience something disturbing or traumatic, their bodies and minds are able to process the experience and memory and heal naturally over time. Sometimes, however, this processing does not occur, and the distressing memory seems to get "frozen in time". When the memory is recalled, the person may re-experience exactly what they saw, smelt, tasted or felt at the time, and this can feel quite intense and extremely distressing. Sometimes this leads to the person trying to avoid thinking about the event to avoid such distress, but often it comes to mind regardless, perhaps due to a trigger which reminds them of an aspect of the memory, or just seems to pop into their head without warning. EMDR helps to reduce the distress of all the different aspects of the memory, often more rapidly than talking therapies such as counselling.
WHAT IS EMDR?
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) is a powerful psychological therapy that was developed by Dr Francine Shapiro, an American clinical psychologist, in the 1980's. Since then, a wealth of research has demonstrated its benefits in treating psychological trauma arising from a wide range of experiences, such as war experiences, childhood abuse or neglect, natural disaster, assault, and road traffic accidents. EMDR is recommended by NICE (the National Institute for Clinical Excellence) for the treatment of PTSD. In recent years, it has found to be an effective treatment for a wider range of issues, such as OCD, phobias and anxieties.
HOW DOES EMDR WORK?
EMDR involves bilateral stimulation of the brain, using eye movements, sounds or taps. The alternating bilateral stimulation from left to right stimulates the frozen or blocked information processing system, allowing the memory to be processed and healed. The result is usually that the distressing memories lose their intensity, so that they feel much less distressing and are experienced as being part of the the person's past; just like ordinary memories.The process is believed to be similar to that which occurs naturally during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep.
*Like with all other services at Cowan House, we must implement a 24 hour cancellation policy. Therefore if you do need to cancel please ring reception on 01934 643262. If cancellation does not take place within the 24 hours prior to the appointment time, we will be unable to give a refund.