I have talked about EMDR therapy in several of my previous posts. Many of you may be wondering what exactly EMDR is and how it works in your brain. So in this post I am going to dive into the process of this type of therapy.
What is EMDR?
EMDR stands for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. This is a type of therapy that is commonly used to help individuals process trauma.
It classically was implemented by having your eyes follow a light flashing from one side of a bar to the other. While following the light you start with an image of a traumatic moment and let your brain go where it needs to. Now they know that what matters is bilateral stimulation (side to side). It can be tapping on your legs or listening to beeps in each ear.
How EMDR Affects Your Brain
When experiencing trauma your brain stores memories differently. You become more distant from the memories and may be disconnected from the emotions and thoughts surrounding the moment. This is to keep you safe, but it doesn’t allow your brain to heal.
During your reprocessing and the desensitization process you access your memories in short bursts. Pairing this access to a stream of questions and resourcing skills you can start to heal your brain.
Weird Things Your Brain Does When Reprocessing Trauma
Our brains are super powerful and have ways of distancing you from things you are not ready for. It is important in EMDR that you have one foot in the present and one foot in the past. When you jump to two feet in the past you can start to dissociate and when you are two feet in the present you can’t process anything. Doing either of these things means you aren’t ready to process that moment yet.
There are some tricks that can keep you with one foot in the past and one foot in the present. These tricks help your brain distance yourself a bit from the trauma and allow you to stick in it.
- Picturing things in black and white
- Looking at the image from an aerial view
- Widening your field of vision
- Imagining you are watching the scene on a TV
- Changing your posture to sit up tall
My brain has done some strange things when I have implemented some of these strategies. When I try to view it differently, I start to see things as if they were in a comic book or cartoon. I once transformed into an ant while my ex-husband liked like a skyscraper tall robotic monster who could throw fireballs. I had a hard time understanding why I saw things like this because I’m a realistic person and don’t really look at comic books or cartoons. My therapist told me that it was unique but it is my brain’s way of distancing myself from what happened. It’s weird, but it works.
