What are the benefits of EMDR therapy?

Memory is an integral part of the identity of every human being. We perceive ourselves as unique and individual beings because we carry an autobiography on our backs, a collection of moments and experiences that only we have access to; Others can only know its content from what we communicate to them.

However, in the same way that memories are the raw material with which we build our own identity and our self-concept, can also give rise to psychological problems if we do not internalize them in an adequate way in our system of memory. The clearest example of this is in trauma, although it also occurs in a similar way in many anxiety disorders, in which eating disorders, and all those psychopathologies that lead us to experience our past and our idea of ​​life in a distressing way. of the "I".

Faced with this type of alterations, resources have emerged that propose an intervention in the way in which we process memories and the emotions linked to them. One of the most useful is EMDR therapy; Let's see what are its main benefits

and in which cases it is helpful when a patient goes to the psychologist due to problems related to emotions and anxiety.

What does the EMDR intervention consist of?

The term “EMDR” is actually an acronym for the English term “Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing”. This treatment technique in the field of mental health proposes a bridge between psychotherapy and non-invasive neuropsychological intervention (ie that is, without surgeries or consumption of medicines), since its objective is to modify the neural connections that serve as a biological foundation for the preservation of memories that, due to their strong painful or anxiogenic emotional charge, have not been adequately integrated into the memory system memory.

That is the main objective of EMDR therapy is not to eliminate memories, mental images or intrusive thoughts that make us feel bad, but to reformulate them so that when they emerge in our consciousness they do not have such a disruptive effect in the form of post-traumatic stress, panic attacks, self-harm, etc.

How is this achieved? Through the patterned stimulation of neural networks that associate or overlap with those neurons responsible for the reactivation of those memories or problematic mental contents. For example, making the patient imagine or recall those mental contents while moving their eyes in certain movement patterns. (hence the name “Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing”), or through bilateral auditory stimulation or tapping on the knees.

• Related article: "What is trauma and how does it influence our lives?"

Top 5 benefits of EMDR therapy

This is a brief summary of the positive aspects of this form of psychotherapy.

1. Helps to stop seeing those emotionally painful mental contents as something to avoid

The fact of ceasing to be involved in patterns of behavior aimed at avoiding certain thoughts or stimuli greatly improves the person's emotional well-being. For example, it helps the patient stop wasting time trying not to go to certain places, so that she can interact with all kinds of people without fear of if you are activate a traumatic memory, and even reduce the chances of resorting to harmful behaviors that were used as a form of escape, such as drug use or self harm.

• You may be interested in: "So are intrusive thoughts"

2. Allows one to distance oneself and relativize limiting beliefs

Through EMDR therapy it is easier to stop experiencing the beliefs that always limit us from the same type of "mental routes", seeing them from other perspectives and adopting a more distanced and critical vision in general.

3. It can be easily applied to very young boys and girls.

Because this form of therapeutic intervention does not rely heavily on the use of language or the expression of abstract ideas, young children have less difficulty engaging with it.

4. Helps overcome psychological trauma relatively quickly

In people whose main problem is trauma, the fact that being able to access those memories without suffering intense and disruptive emotional crises It is a very rapid improvement in your general mental health.

• Related article: "Mental health: definition and characteristics according to psychology"

5. It is a useful resource for anxiety disorders in general.

Although EMDR was developed primarily as a therapy for trauma, it has also been shown to be effective for anxiety disorders in general, such as GAD, panic disorder or phobias, because in most cases they are based on problems accessing certain mental content linked to a reality or fact imaginary.

What are the scientific keys on which EMDR is based?

These are the main scientific principles on which EMDR therapy is based.

1. Emotional memory follows its own logic

Memory is actually a set of memory systems that work in a coordinated manner but also have parallel systems. Therefore, one can speak of a emotional memory that is relatively unrelated to language-based memories.

For example, some people with brain injuries or malformations around the limbic system (the most emotional part of the brain) may be able to to recognize the faces of their loved ones when they are in front of them, but they "feel" that it is not them, that they are in front of a person who is pretending to be their mother, father or their couple.

EMDR therapy fully intervenes in emotional memory, under the premise that it is one thing to be able to describe a memory and another thing to experience it normally.

2. Avoidance of anxiety-producing thoughts is never the solution

No psychopathology associated with trauma and anxiety can be overcome through avoidance. However, breaking this dynamic of trying to totally distance yourself from certain memories or thoughts can be very difficult, since it requires effort and a certain tolerance for discomfort. EMDR therapy facilitates things by immersing the person in these mental contents in a very gradual way. and at the same time that a part of his attention is fixed on the stimulation that comes to him from the present moment, so that he does not have to experience everything at once. In this sense, it is similar to systematic desensitization, a therapeutic resource widely used in the treatment of phobias.

3. Knowing how to face painful memories is learning to reintegrate them into the experience of the present.

As demonstrated by the psychologist elizabeth loftus, memories are never elements anchored in the past; they are always phenomena of the present, and for this reason they transform as time goes by and we integrate new elements in our way of living and reinterpreting them. EMDR therapy makes a more functional and adaptive reinterpretation framework emerge along with those painful memories.

4. Less language-based emotional management processes are easier for children

Finally, we must not forget that EMDR therapy is very easy to apply to boys and girls, and can even be presented to them as an exercise to perform while being told a story, since it is based on an experience linked to the stimuli of the present, and not only on the introspection.

Are you looking for professional psychological assistance?

If you are interested in starting a psychotherapy process in which you can count on EMDR intervention and other therapeutic resources, contact me.

My name is Luisa Ramirez, I am a psychologist and coach, and I attend to people of all ages online by video call or in face-to-face sessions in my office located in Seville.