Battling PTSD with EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) offers hope for trauma survivors. This evidence-based therapy helps reprocess traumatic memories, reducing their emotional impact. Learn how EMDR specialists guide patients through this transformative treatment, what to expect during sessions, and why it’s effective for PTSD. Discover how battling PTSD with EMDR can lead to lasting recovery and emotional freedom.
For those battling PTSD, traumatic memories can feel like open wounds – raw, persistent, and easily triggered. Traditional talk therapy may not always reach the deep-seated pain locked in the brain’s neural pathways. But there’s a proven alternative: EMDR. With the help of skilled EMDR specialists, survivors can reprocess trauma, diminish its grip, and reclaim their lives. Here’s how it works.
Understanding PTSD and the Role of EMDR
The Impact of Trauma on the Brain
There are different potential mechanisms of action for the symptoms of PTSD, but scientists currently believe that post-traumatic stress occurs when traumatic memories fail to process correctly, leaving them stuck in the brain. These unprocessed memories resurface as flashbacks, nightmares, and hypervigilance – overreactions and a heightened sense of fear and anxiety.
EMDR, developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro in the 1980s, helps the brain reprocess these memories, moving them to the hippocampus where they can be stored as neutral experiences.
Why EMDR Works Where Other Therapies Fall Short
Unlike traditional therapies that rely on verbal processing, EMDR therapy uses bilateral stimulation (eye movements, taps, or sounds) to tackle PTSD in a way that doesn’t actively and aggressively stress the patient.
An analysis of existing studies, all randomized controlled trials, shows that PTSD patients experience significant relief after a course of EMDR sessions, addressing both psychological and physiologic symptoms, making battling PTSD with EMDR one of the fastest-acting treatments available.
How EMDR Specialists Guide the Healing Process
The 8-Phase EMDR Protocol
EMDR specialists follow a structured approach to ensure safety and efficacy:
Phase 1: History-Taking
This phase involves identifying traumatic memories and triggers.
Phase 2: Preparation
During this phase, patients are taught grounding and coping skills.
Phase 3: Assessment
This phase focuses on pinpointing the negative beliefs tied to trauma (e.g., “I’m powerless”).
Phase 4: Desensitization
During this phase, patients use bilateral stimulation to reprocess distressing memories.
Phase 5: Installation
This phase involves replacing negative beliefs with positive ones (e.g., “I survived; I’m strong”).
Phase 6: Body Scan
During this phase, patients check for and process any residual physical tension related to the memory.
Phase 7: Closure
This phase stabilizes the patient and ensures they are grounded at the end of the session.
Phase 8: Reevaluation
During this phase, the therapist assesses progress and identifies any new targets for treatment.
The Role of Bilateral Stimulation
During sessions, EMDR specialists guide patients to recall distressing events while engaging in left-right stimulation (e.g., following a therapist’s fingers or holding buzzers).
This process originated in hypnosis, but its exact mechanism of action is still unknown. The theory is that bilateral stimulation helps soothe the active mind while granting greater access to subconscious, deeper emotional, and autonomic processes in the brain, especially in the amygdala.
Over the course of multiple treatments, recurring bilateral stimulation combined with a therapeutic line of questioning and remembrance helps memories lose their intensity, allowing patients to recall them without distress, and process (or more specifically, reprocess) their trauma in a healthier manner.
Who Can Benefit from Battling PTSD with EMDR?
Ideal Candidates for EMDR
EMDR is effective for any form of PTSD, including survivors of assault or accidents, veterans with combat-related PTSD, first responders and healthcare workers with vicarious trauma, and individuals with complex PTSD (C-PTSD) from prolonged traumatic experiences (e.g., abuse).
Conditions Beyond PTSD That EMDR Addresses
EMDR has also been used in the treatment of other mental health conditions that co-occur with PTSD, or are adjacent to post-traumatic stress, including severe anxiety disorders, panic disorders, phobias, OCD, as well as grief and attachment disorders.
In a way, EMDR is structured similarly to exposure therapies, which are effective in the treatment of extreme anxiety.
What to Expect in an EMDR Session
A Safe, Controlled Environment
EMDR specialists prioritize emotional safety, ensuring patients feel grounded before delving into trauma. Sessions typically last 60 to 90 minutes, with breaks as needed. Patients remain fully conscious and in control, able to pause if overwhelmed.
Post-Session Effects
After reprocessing, patients often report reduced emotional charge around traumatic memories, fewer flashbacks and nightmares, as well as improved self-esteem and emotional regulation.
Some may feel temporarily fatigued or emotionally raw, but these effects usually subside within days.
The Science Behind EMDR’s Success
Rewiring the Brain’s Trauma Response
While we don’t know exactly how EMDR works, neuroimaging studies show that EMDR decreases hyperactivity in the amygdala and strengthens prefrontal cortex connections, restoring emotional balance.
In other words, it helps the logical parts of the brain reprocess and regain control over fear-based reactions to deep-seated memories, turning the notch on fear and irrationality down, while turning the notch on critical and positive thinking back up.
The evidence shows that battling PTSD with EMDR therapy works. A 2018 meta-analysis confirmed EMDR’s superiority to CBT for PTSD symptom reduction, while remaining equal in the reduction of depression symptoms.
Integrative Therapies
EMDR can be coupled with other treatment methods for long-term success, and to address co-occurring mental health issues alongside post-traumatic stress. Potential complementary modalities include:
Somatic Experiencing (SE)
Somatic experiencing releases trauma stored in the body through mindful awareness of physical sensations (e.g., shaking, tension). Somatic experiencing pairs with EMDR to address “frozen” stress responses.
Neurofeedback
Neurofeedback trains the brain to regulate fear responses by visualizing real-time EEG data. During a neurofeedback session, the patient can view their own brain activity through shapes and colors, observing their own spikes in stress. This feedback can help enhance emotional regulation and essentially help “control” and stabilize emotions during therapy.
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
Mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques help manage dissociation during EMDR sessions.
Yoga/Tai Chi
Physical exercise, like yoga, can regulate the nervous system, improving EMDR outcomes by lowering baseline anxiety.
Medication Management
Prazosin (for nightmares), SSRIs (sertraline). Avoid benzodiazepines – they impair memory processing crucial for EMDR.
There’s Hope For PTSD with EMDR Treatment At Steps Recovery Center
Battling PTSD with EMDR offers more than hope – it provides a scientifically proven path to reclaiming your mind, body, and future. With the guidance of skilled EMDR specialists at Steps Recovery Center, trauma survivors can transform pain into resilience, proving that healing isn’t just possible – it’s within reach.
