You are smart, insightful and already know the psycho- babble of your life story... it is time to experience relief from the suffering.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing

Two Theories of Mechanism of Change

​

Working Memory Theory:  The mechanism of action or change is posited to occur when clients focus on a target of internal thought/image/memory/body sensation while concurrently attending to an external stimulus (BLS -bilateral stimulation). Humans are only able to hold a small amount of information in their conscious awareness at any given time. The process facilitates a progressive dulling of emotional intensity of a target. Additionally, those targets benefit from a neural reworking with outcomes often including re-consolidation of the target with positive or adaptive self-concept and increased flexible. The working memory is a central executive system which does the higher order cognitive functions. Ones holding of a memory in mind while focusing on another task results in reduced the targets vividness, emotionality and incompleteness of unpleasant events.

​
 

​

Inter Hemispheric Communication (IHC) Theory:  IHC mechanism of action suggests that horizontal eye movement (BLS -bilateral stimulation) increases the communication between left and right hemispheres of the brain, which improves the retrieval of an unpleasant event without the negative emotional and felt-sense (body) hyper or hypo arousal.  The left hemisphere and right hemisphere are simultaneously activated during the therapeutic intervention across the corpus callosum. Integration occurs the left hemispheric processes of narrative, logic, story and facts concurrently while the right hemispheric experiences negative emotions, empathy and creativity.

​

Studies of the mechanism of action suggest that bi-lateral benefits occur when a person brings memories to mind (working memory) rather than bi-lateral eye movements, or other left right tactile or auditory stimulation alone.

​

In so doing we are shifting neural networks and re-consolidating them, re-filing original thoughts/images/memories/body sensations after desensitization. The desensitization of those memories transforms; becoming less vivid and less distressing. The memory is in the PAST nolonger relived in the now. Neutralizing them and integrating them with more adaptive neural networks, positive cognitions and the experiences of the body's felt-sense (somatic/body).

​

EMDR is a therapeutic treatment that uses bi-lateral sensory experiences of eye movements, sounds, or tactile to stimulate the brain.  The use of these sensory experiences in conjunction with focusing on a traumatic memory, a compulsive trigger or a dreaded future event can create changes in the brain that help a client overcome symptoms of complex trauma, shock -trauma, depression, anger, and anxiety, panic attacks, phobias, eating disorders, obsessive or compulsive behaviors among other conditions. In cases of physical assault, or shock experience of a car accident the EMDR process can dampen the expereinced intensity of emotionally charged distressing memory events.