Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy was initially developed in 1987 for the treatment of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and is guided by the Adaptive Information Processing model. EMDR is an individual therapy typically delivered one to two times per week for a total of 6-12 sessions, although some people benefit from fewer sessions. Sessions can be conducted on consecutive days.
What is EMDR?
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing is a psychotherapy approach designed for working with distressing or traumatic memories. The theory behind EMDR is that many psychological difficulties are the result of distressing life experiences which have not been stored in memory properly and are said to be unprocessed of blocked.
Normal memories are stored by a part of the brain called the hippocampus. Some traumatic events such as abuse, accident, disasters, or violence are so overwhelming that the hippocampus doesn't do its job properly. When this happens memories ate stored in their raw, unprocessed, form. These trauma memories are easily triggered, leading them to replay and caused distress over and over again.
-The Psychology Centre & Ta Moko Services
