Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) for PTSD
EMDR
EMDR is an effective, evidence-based intervention to reduce intensity of PTSD symptoms. This treatment focuses on resolving the intensity of the body’s response to trauma reminders to support the brain’s natural memory processing.
When a non-traumatic life event happens, the brain goes through a natural process that encodes the memory, moving its representation from short-term storage to longer-term storage areas in the brain. Through this process, the event becomes a representation of the event itself, filed away into the cabinet of your mind, where it can be recalled and examined when desired. When it is recalled, it is experienced as a memory—something that happened in the past but is not currently happening right now. You might have feelings about the experience, but there is no confusion—the event is a memory and it does not feel like it is happening now. Try this experiment. Think of the last time you went to a wedding? Or the earliest birthday you remember? Recall the day you took your driver’s license test? What about that time you saw El Capitan in Yosemite? These are all possible examples of “episodic memories” of your past experiences. They may be pleasant or unpleasant, but when you remember the event, you know for sure it is not happening again in this moment.
This natural process of memory consolidation is interrupted when a traumatic event occurs. In PTSD, traumatic memories are so intense that recalling the event overwhelms the nervous system and literally re-creates the same fight-flight-freeze response that occurred at the time of the life-threatening event. It feels as if the terrible event is happening again. Because being reminded of the event is so overwhelming and aversive, trauma reminders become avoided at all costs. When the traumatic event is remembered, the person experiences the memories of the event in the body, and desperately tries to stop thinking about it. Because the memory consolidation process gets interrupted, the trauma memories never get to be filed away into longer-term storage, like other episodic memories. This is why they continue to be experienced as highly emotional and as if event is happening all over again, over and over. Because remembering results in emotional overwhelm, a person with PTSD struggles to tolerate natural memory processing that could allow the traumatic event memory to be stored and experienced like any other memory.
EMDR supports the processing of traumatic memories to episodic memories, and in this way, can help you feel less overwhelmed and trapped by the events. EMDR is typically 6-12 sessions but the length of treatment varies from person to person.
