EMDR and Brain Health

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can be effectively treated using Eye Movement

Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). Addictions, somatoform disorders, sexual

dysfunction, eating disorders, mood disorders, adult personality disorders, obsessive-

compulsive disorder (OCD), pain, neurodegenerative disorders, mental disorders of

childhood and adolescence and sleep disorders are just a few of the pathological

situations in which a recent systematic review has documented the beneficial effects of

EMDR.

Proposed mechanisms of EMDR:

1. Bilateral Stimulation:

While the client concentrates on a memory, EMDR employs rhythmic left-right

stimulation, such as eye movements, tones, or taps. This helps the brain reprocess

memories by simulating REM sleep.

2. Desensitization:

EMDR assists individuals in realizing that the traumatic experience is over and no

longer poses a threat. This may lessen the memory's emotional load and vividness.

3. Frontal activation:

The intrinsic adaptive information processing (AIP) in the brain is activated by EMDR,

which may aid in the brain's restoration to more regular functioning.

4. Dream Sleep and EMDR: The Sleep Connection:

We process and integrate memories from the hippocampus to the neocortex as we

sleep. Normal, less traumatic memories don't get "stuck" because they are processed

by the rest of the brain during the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) phase of sleep, which

occurs at night. This is among the reasons that a restful night's sleep makes us feel so

much better. According to neuroscientists, EMDR is the process that occurs during REM

(dream) sleep. Whilst helping you focus on a fragmented traumatic memory or emotion, EMDR therapists move your eyes from side to side. Similar to how your eyes move back and

forth while you dream. EEG tracings of EMDR's Brain Synchrony reveal that the eye movements cause a synchronization of brain activity at a frequency in the delta range, similar to slow-wave sleep, much like in REM sleep. In order to assist you process the traumatic memory, EMDR briefly synchronizes your brain waves and slows down your overstimulated amygdala.

5. Unraveling Trauma:

This implies that the traumatic memories are constantly "reactivated, replayed, and

encoded into existing memory networks" throughout EMDR therapy. To put it another

way, EMDR facilitates traumatic memories to ‘get unstuck’ so they can be processed

similarly to less painful memories.

Advantages of EMDR:

• People who have experienced trauma or other mental health issues can benefit from

EMDR.

• It can lessen symptoms such as nightmares, intrusive thoughts, and flashbacks.

• It can assist individuals in changing their unfavourable self-perceptions to more neutral

or constructive ones.

• It can enhance social, relational, and professional functioning.

Sources:

1)

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01935/full#B46

2) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8488430/

3) https://mysydneypsychologist.com.au/how-does-emdr-work-a-neuroscience explanation/#comments

4) https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0045753