Marisa Parcerisa: «Traumas are emotional marks in our brain»

Where is the limit that separates psychological problems from problems due to brain malfunction? Establishing this is not easy, and in fact, it can even be understood as a fallacious dichotomy: psychological problems are linked to changes in the brain (if only for the simple fact that we have become used to behaving in a certain way) and vice versa.

That is why there are currently some forms of psychological treatment that emphasize the need to generate changes at the brain level. EMDR therapy, developed at the end of the 20th century as a tool to treat people with trauma, is an example of this. To understand how it works, in this interview we spoke with the psychologist Marisa Parcerisa, from the Psicotools center.

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Interview with Marisa Parcerisa: this is EMDR therapy

Marisa Parcerisa is an expert psychologist in EMDR therapy and Director of the Psicotools psychology center, located in Barcelona. In this interview she tells us about the characteristics of EMDR therapy, originally designed for intervene in patients with psychological trauma, although today it is used with a greater diversity of psychopathologies.

How did you consider working with EMDR therapy?

EMDR therapy was fascinating to me and enormously effective from the moment I discovered it, to treat any psychological disorder that has its origin in trauma. Traumatic experiences can take many forms and levels of intensity depending on the person and regardless of the age of those who suffer them.

In addition, since they generate alterations based on emotions and memories, it is very difficult to solve them only through reasoning or conversations with those who want to help us: these sensations go beyond the words.

This is where EMDR therapy shows its full potential and effectiveness, being able to achieve the resolution or reprocessing of traumas without depending on solely from dialogue with the patient, but uses situations to physically alter the way in which patients recall those images traumatic

What is EMDR therapy?

EMDR therapy is based on the research of forensic psychologist Francine Shapiro at the Institute for Mental Research in Palo Alto, and is supported by voluntary ocular stimulation and in general in bilateral stimulation (generation of stimuli that affect both hemispheres of the brain in a differentiated). All this without surgery or invasive procedures.

EMDR therapy assumes that traumas are memories stored in the brain in a dysfunctional way. This dysfunction causes recurring ideas to emerge, flashes of unpleasant images that burst into consciousness suddenly and involuntarily, and which cause great discomfort or even crisis of anxiety.

Normally, these images have unpleasant or aversive content or refer to an event that harmed us in the past. considerably and that, by capturing our attentional focus in the present, makes us experience again part of those sensations painful.

Therefore, traumas are emotional marks that traumatic events leave physically imprinted in our brain, so that many of the things that we are going to experiencing from then on will activate both the images that constitute the content of that memory (for example, going out to speak in front of the class) and the emotions linked to that memory (for example, the shame, anguish and feeling of guilt that we experienced when several people in the audience began to insult us).

EMDR therapy helps to dissolve that dysfunctional link between the nerve cells whose way of connecting with each other keeps that “traumatic emotional mark” alive in our brain. In this way, EMDR therapy breaks the vicious circle by which the brain is blocked every time attempting to process memories or knowledge related directly or indirectly to those memories painful.

For what types of disorder or symptomatology is EMDR indicated?

The psychotherapeutic approach with EMDR is very versatile, since it allows treating patients with depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, phobias, anxiety, panic attacks, borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder, addictions, eating disorders, etc It is also indicated for the treatment of emotional difficulties due to difficult experiences such as traumatic incidents in childhood or accidents and natural disasters.

Likewise, there are patients who work on aspects more related to their personal activity, to improve their work, professional or sports performance, overcome the fear of speaking or performing an artistic performance in public.

Finally, it is important to highlight that EMDR therapy can be applied to both adults and children, with specialized protocols for the latter and with also very satisfactory results.

The ability to adapt to many types of patients, their practical orientation and their way of intervening directly on the emotional imprint of the trauma make it a very valuable option to give treatment. At PSYCOTOOLS, it is the therapeutic technique par excellence, although it is not exclusive, as we often integrate and complement it. with other techniques such as Mindfulness, depending on the needs of each patient, to enhance their therapeutic process.

What are the benefits of EMDR in therapy?

First of all, that it can be applied in almost all ages. The fact that EMDR therapy is based on creating situations and making movements, and not so much on introspection and reflection, makes that can be used in both adults and children, with specialized protocols for the latter and with similar results. satisfactory.

Second, it goes to the root of the problem. The objective of EMDR therapy is in neurological phenomena. Although traumatic experiences do not generate visible lesions in the brain, they do affect its microstructure, way in which neurons connect to each other and adjust their functioning to represent that memory in the future. It is in this fact that EMDR sets its target to improve the quality of life of patients: directly influencing the parts of the brain associated with the traumatic memory. Therefore, patients do not have to make an effort to assimilate these experiences from the conscious application of new ways of interpreting those memories from rationality.

On the other hand, it unites two scientific fields. EMDR therapy unites the world of neurosciences with the field of psychology, since it has many characteristics in common with systematic desensitization, a resource created by psychologists and based on behavior modification. In this way, it has two different channels from which improvements and new applications can come thanks to the investigations that take place in each of these scientific fields.

Another advantage is that EMDR therapy is not intended to simply manipulate the past, but rather focuses on how to experience in the present what happened in the past, assuming that all memories change over time, we want to or not.

Therefore, its objective is not "to arrive at the absolute truth of what happened", which would be something impossible and would eclipse the true purpose of therapy, but to allow the person to integrate these memories into her life without harming her well-being psychological.

In addition, it has the endorsement of the WHO. Since 2013, the World Health Organization and International Clinical Guidelines have endorsed EMDR therapy for effective and appropriate treatment of trauma and a number of clinical pathologies.

It must be taken into account that EMDR therapists must follow a long training process, in accordance with the standards approved by the EMDR Institute of United States, created by Francine Shapiro, with a rigorous methodology that is reviewed based on the different research studies that are being carried out. doing.

In addition, the success of EMDR is endorsed by a large number of scientific studies, which have made it possible to verify its effectiveness in the approach, and by health organizations of the highest level such as the APA (American Psychological Association), the Departments of Health of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, the Netherlands and France, the NICE (Institute for Clinical Excellence) in the United Kingdom or SAMHSA (the substance use and mental health organization of the United States Department of Health and Human Services). Joined).

Precisely because of its outstanding efficacy and scientific evidence, some imitations of EMDR therapy have emerged that use some elements of the technique, although they do not comply with the rigorous and quality requirements of the method, so it is advisable to obtain adequate information before starting a treatment with this therapy and to seek professionals with the appropriate training regulated.