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If you’re in a crisis or having difficulty coping during business hours, call your GP to arrange an appointment for that day. If your GP is not available, use the Health Department search engine to find a GP clinic that is open and close to you: www.healthdirect.gov.au/Reach out to friends/family: If there is a friend or family member who you could contact for help and support, get in touch with them. Create a crisis coping kit: When you’re feeling overwhelmed it can be difficult to remember all of the steps you can take to keep yourself safe, so having a written plan can be useful. Click here to create your own crisis coping kit (Beyond Blue, 2019).
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a powerful psychological treatment that has been used effectively for over 30 years in a variety of international settings and cultures with many different types of psychological distress.
EMDR is designed for working with distressing memories, which lead to symptoms of anxiety, panic attacks, and depression. EMDR Therapy aims to reduce subjective distress and strengthen adaptive thoughts related to a traumatic/distressing event.
Often disturbing events happen in our lives that stay with us. The brain cannot process information as it ordinarily does. One moment can become ‘frozen in time’ and remembering the trauma may feel as bad as going through it for the first time. This is because the images, sounds, smells and feelings still seem to be there – they haven’t changed. Such memories have a lasting negative effect that interferes with the way a person sees the world and the way that they relate to other people.
EMDR has a positive effect on how the brain processes information. Following an EMDR session, the person no longer relives the trauma. They still recall that an incident happened, but it no longer feels upsetting.
Scientific research has established EMDR as effective for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Clinicians have also successfully used EMDR as a treatment component in the management of: Depression, Anxiety, Panic attacks, Complicated grief, Dissociative disorders, Eating disorders, Sexual or Physical abuse, Performance anxiety, Stress reduction, Disturbing memories, and Phobias.
In 1987, psychologist Dr Francine Shapiro made the chance observation that eye movements can reduce the intensity of disturbing thoughts, under certain conditions. Dr Shapiro studied this effect scientifically, and in 1989 reported success using EMDR to treat victims of trauma. Following this initial discovery many treatment studies were conducted, and there are now more published treatment outcome studies on EMDR than any other treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Two or more sessions are required for the therapist to understand the nature of the problem and to decide whether EMDR is an appropriate treatment. After taking a history and assessing the problem your EMDR therapist will help you identify when you began experiencing symptoms and what memories are associated with your feelings. You will not have to describe in detail what happened, your therapist only requires a few key factors of the memory. The therapist will also discuss EMDR with you more fully and give you an opportunity to ask questions. The typical EMDR session lasts from 60-90 minutes. The type of problem, life circumstances and the amount of previous trauma will determine how many treatment sessions are necessary.
EMDR is one of the most researched psychotherapeutic approaches for PTSD. Since 1989 over 20 controlled clinical studies have found EMDR to effectively decrease or eliminate the symptoms of PTSD for the majority of clients and it is more efficient.
The Australian Psychological Society (APS) has recently noted EMDR as a Level 1 treatment for PTSD in their recent published results for ‘Evidence-Based Psychological Interventions: A Literature Review’ (2010) for both young people and adults. This is the highest rating that can be applied to a specific therapeutic approach. Additional research has focussed on use of EMDR for Depression and Anxiety and numerous other issues with extremely good results.
During EMDR, the therapist works with the client to identify a specific problem as a focus for the treatment session. The client then calls to mind the disturbing issue or event, what was seen, felt, heard, thought, etc. The therapist will then begin a set of bilateral eye movements or other bilateral stimulation. These eye movements are used until the memory becomes less disturbing and is associated with a positive thought and belief about yourself. At the end of processing, you may still remember what happened but will feel less distressed by that memory.
