EMDR is an acronym for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It is an innovative clinical treatment that has successfully helped over a million individuals who have survived trauma, including sexual abuse, domestic violence, combat, crime, and those suffering from a number of other challenges, including depression, addictions, phobias and a variety of self-esteem issues. In its original form, EMDR utilizes side-to-side eye movements, to facilitate the re-processing of traumatic material in the brain. However, the treatment has evolved, to include other forms of bilateral stimulation, including Tapping, and percussive audio stimulation.
EMDR integrates many of the successful elements of a range of therapeutic approaches in combination with eye movements or other forms of rhythmical stimulation in ways that are thought to stimulate the brain’s information processing system. With EMDR therapy it may be unnecessary to delve into decades-old psychological material, but rather, by activating the information-processing system of the brain, people may achieve their therapeutic goals, with recognizable changes that don’t disappear over time.
Several controlled studies support the efficacy of EMDR, making it one of the most thoroughly researched methods ever used in the treatment of trauma.
For more information, see the EMDR Institute web site at www.emdr.com
