EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a structured psychotherapeutic intervention for the treatment of various psychological disorders and issues related to both traumatic events and emotionally stressful experiences, which can be easily integrated with other therapeutic approaches (e.g., Cognitive-Constructivist Psychotherapy).
Over the past 25 years, since Francine Shapiro, the creator of the method, began the first study on the functioning of this technique, EMDR has been the subject of an increasing number of studies and research, which have proven its effectiveness in treating various issues, from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder to Anxiety and Panic Disorders, from Eating Disorders to distress related to serious physical illnesses, from problems resulting from early relational trauma (abuse, mistreatment, neglect) to suffering resulting from complex grief.
The application of this method is based on the assumption that all human beings are equipped with a physiological information processing system which, under normal conditions, serves to process the more or less significant stressful events that each of us encounters.
Adaptive processing involves creating associations between the experienced event and each individual’s own set of memories and beliefs.
This processing system allows us to “metabolize” the negative events that happen to us, integrating them into our self-perception, our history, and our view of the world. In this way, we have the ability to remember even the most negative experiences without them having a destabilizing impact on our current emotional balance.
Stressful or traumatic events can disrupt this physiological information processing system, causing a kind of “freezing” of memories, where the memories of the experience remain unprocessed and cause deep distress and discomfort.
The therapeutic procedure of EMDR has the effect of stimulating the blocked information and allowing the brain to process the stressful or traumatic experience until it is resolved.
In this sense, EMDR promotes and facilitates the internal process of self-healing, with the aim of overcoming the fragmentation with which many people, exposed to a traumatic situation, experience the various aspects of their experience. Reprocessing thus becomes an adaptive revisitation of difficult experiences that can be integrated into one’s life path.
At the end of reprocessing with EMDR, the patient is able to recall the experience without discomfort, perceiving it as any other memory belonging to their history.
By facilitating access to and processing of traumatic memories, EMDR promotes greater serenity in the person when relating to the memory of the event and the acquisition of greater confidence in their abilities and a renewed sense of security.
This results in increased self-esteem and self-efficacy, a change in dysfunctional thoughts about oneself and the world, the implementation of more self-valuing behaviors, and a significant reduction in emotional stress.
