EMDR Therapy: Release Past Pain, Create a Positive Future
in Boulder, Colorado, with
Edie Stone, MA, LPC
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
ABOUT EMDR
FAQ 1. What will I experience
during EMDR sessions?
The short
version: You will share your goals and any relevant history ...
I will help you strengthen your inner resources ... you will use simple
tones, vibrations, or tapping that alternate from right to left, while
you mentally process images and emotions ... and then you will feel
much better!
1. History, goals
and readiness.First,
I will have you share some history, focusing on the issues you want to
work with. I will also check in with you on your readiness for this
work. (If your life is in crisis right now, we will focus on
stabilizing your situation and solving current problems before going
deeper with EMDR for past issues.)
If you are coming in for
trauma treatment, I will help you develop a safe space and other inner
resources before processing any painful memories.
If you want
to enhance your
performance in sports, interviews, public speaking, etc., we will
probably be able to jump right into EMDR processing at this point.
2. Developing
inner resources. The most important aspect of preparing for
EMDR is strengthening your inner resources (also called "resourcing").
This includes developing a sense
of safety.
A. Inner
Resources: Creating a safe space. One way to develop a sense of
safety is by creating an inner image of a safe, secure place such as a
castle, fort, or special place in nature. I will have you use the bilateral stimulation with
this positive image first, and you can decide what sounds, vibrations,
and speed feel right for you. (Choices for bilateral stimulation
include earphones and/or hand-held buzzer pads, or tapping your own
arms or knees.) This is called "tapping in" the image or experience, or
resource development.
The more details, senses, and feelings that you
bring to imagining yourself in this safe building or landscape, the
more real this safe space feels. Also, more neurons will be firing in
this new pattern, your neurochemistry will change, and your autonomic
nervous system will shift from sympathetic (fight/flight) to
parasympathetic (the relaxation response). So even though the image is "imaginary,"
the effects are very real.
Along with your safe space, I will encourage you to
develop other inner resources by connecting with supportive images, and
if needed, to learn grounding, containment, and relaxation skills.
B. Inner
Resources: Connecting with supportive images. Examples of
supportive images include finding a protective figure, a hero, a guide,
and a nurturing figure. All of these resources can be installed or
tapped in. Possibilities include a grandparent who loved you
unconditionally, historic people (such as Martin Luther King, Jr.),
animals (Mother Bear or a favorite dog), mythic figures or gods and
goddesses (Hercules, Kwan Yin), characters from films or books, saints,
spirit guides, angels, golden light, etc. For some situations, you need
to be able to access your own Adult Self or Higher Self, in order to
comfort or protect your own Inner Child.
C. Inner
Resources: Developing life-skills. Resources also can include
developing the abilities to relax and self-soothe, to set boundaries,
to nourish yourself physically and emotionally, to ground, and to
contain strong or upsetting feelings and images.
Part 2: EMDR Sessions –
What will I experience?
Your EMDR sessions will contain some or all of the
following processes: A. Assessment or Preview
B. Desensitization or Processing
C. Installation
D. Body scan, focus on body awareness
E. Closure
F. Re-evaluation
A. Assessment or Preview:
1. You choose an issue, event, or memory, which is called the "target."
I prefer the word Preview for this stage.
"Assessment" in this context is not any kind of test or diagnosis -- it
just means that we will assess the strength of your emotional charge on
a scale of 0 to 10 when you think about the target.
2. Then we will explore negative beliefs and self-talk that come up
when you think about the target. I will help you find positive beliefs
that may not seem true now, but which will feel believable after you
process the target.
3. You will notice and let yourself feel emotions and sensations.
A note about emotional safety: The goal here is feel some
emotional charge, but not to be overwhelmed or flooded with emotions
and sensations. It the target seems too intense, I will suggest ways to
feel safer. For example, you can imagine viewing it at a distance, as
if it is a DVD in the corner of the room, and you are holding the
remote control to start and stop it. You can also bring your Protective
Figure or any other resource to the scene.
B.
Desensitization or Processing
Desensitization is the heart of EMDR.I sometimes call this "processing"
during a sesssion.
This phase is where you receive simple, alternating bilateral stimulation with
ear-phones, small vibrating pads (like two cell phones vibrating), or
by tapping your own arms or knees. You can choose the loudness,
intensity of vibration, and speed of the alternating stimulation. We
start with short sets of bilateral stimulation, as you get used to the
process. Then you can determine the length of the set, and pause
whenever you need to.
The sounds, vibrations, or taps go left/right, left/right; the brain
goes right/left, right/left. You simply let the images, emotions, and
sensations flow through your awareness. The wisdom of your unconscious
mind, or your innate Inner Healer, or some deep healing process that
science does not have a name for yet, takes over.
The memories and fears that were stuck become unstuck. (See footnote1 if you want a
scientific description about how this works in the brain.) Whatever the
explanation, what you experience is that the intensity of emotions and
sensations starts to fade or dissolve, and you feel better. Your
negative self-talk clears, and positive beliefs are now more believable.
If you are doing EMDR for performance
enhancement, we first may need to do some processing of stressful
situations in the past, such as freezing up as a public speaker. Then
we will proceed with installing your positive outcome.
C.
Installation
Installation is a time for you to experience and tap in the positives.
When your emotional charge and negative thoughts have drained down to
zero, you can integrate new positive beliefs, a sense of power, joy,
peace, or whatever shifts you experienced from the desensitization
sets. We use bilateral stimulation again to install and help you
integrate these positives into your life. And yes, the same simple
left/right, left/right stimulation helps your body and mind to move
into the future with more energy and confidence.
With EMDR for performance
enhancement, we will focus on this stage. I will have you link back to
successes in the past, and use them as resources for the future. Then
you will see, sense, and feel your interview, talk, game, or other
performance going well. You will feel your body and mind being relaxed
and in the flow. You can try variations of the performance, so that you
can practice being successful even if there are bumps in the road.
Create your new future. Call
me today at 303-415-3755 or email me to schedule a free consultation.
D. Body
awareness
Body awareness is an important part of EMDR. I will encourage you to
become aware of body sensations at several stages of your work with
EMDR, as well as with other forms of psychotherapy that I use. Learning
to relax deeply will help you to de-stress. Along with containment,
relaxation is an important resource to develop and use in between
sessions. During desensitization, body awareness will support you in
fully processing and releasing your targeted memories. And when you
have fully processed a target, whether in one session or several, I may
ask you to scan your body to see if there is any residual discomfort,
and if so, we may do one or two more sets to finish up.
For some types of performance or
skill enhancement, body awareness is key to the whole process. The more
closely you can imagine and sense your body enjoying your new skills,
the more your performance will improve.
If you have any concerns about pain or dissociation associated with
this process, please let me know and we will adjust the therapy to meet
your needs.
E. Closure -
Ending an EMDR Session
When you have finished with your chosen target, you will likely feel a
sense of relief and accomplishment. We may discuss how to bring your
new beliefs and positive feelings into your daily life.
Following some sessions you may feel energized, but at other times you
may feel tired or a bit spaced out. It is always good to schedule some
relaxing time after your appointment.
What if I am part way through an
experience and it is time to end the session?
Some targets take more than one session to fully process. In this case,
I will want to take some time at the end of the session to have you
return to your safe space and/or connect with your inner resources. I
may have you do a grounding exercise to help you come back into the
present. If you are still feeling some yuckiness or emotional arousal,
you can put it in your container (an image such as a file folder or old
trunk) and leave it there until next week. It's a good idea to journal
or note any insights, dreams, or new memories that come up during the
week, and we can discuss them at our next session.
F.
Re-evaluation
In the following session, we will spend a few minutes checking in to
see if you are still at zero charge. It is not unusual for some
discomfort to come up between sessions. Just let me know and we will
process that in the next session. Otherwise, we will move to the next
target.
Find relief for
your suffering. Call me today at 303-415-3755 or email me to schedule a free
consultation.