What does EMDR do to memories?
“There’s something called EMDR—eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. It’s a therapy like hypnosis that can help speed the processing of memories. It’s very effective for trauma and posttraumatic stress. Once you process the memory, the picture goes away, along with the emotions associated with it.”
Is EMDR memory reconsolidation?
EMDR produces permanent resolution (transformational change) of traumatic memories. “Memory reconsolidation ,” the process of refiling a memory after it has been brought into consciousness and altered makes this change possible.
Can trauma erase memories?
The findings suggest that when faced with traumatic stress, the brain can activate a different system to form and suppress memories.
Is Altering memories possible?
Altering traumatic memories: Researchers have found that they can indirectly retrieve and weaken fear memories; the discovery has therapeutic implications for treating trauma — ScienceDaily. Follow all of ScienceDaily’s latest research news and top science headlines!
How does EMDR work with repressed memories?
However, fully tapping in neurologically to past memories which are partially or completely repressed is a crucial part of the process, which allows the processing to occur through bilateral stimulation. Accessing repressed distressing memories is a crucial part of the EMDR process.
Does EMDR have a ripple effect?
Accessing and processing a traumatic experience the client is currently aware of to some extent can lead the mind to bring up other memories which are in some way connected and allow processing of these repressed memories as well. In this way the EMDR process does have a potential ripple effect in several contexts.
Can EMDR be used to re-trauma a client?
In visiting traumatic experiences there is definitely the power to re-traumatize the person. This is why there are safeguards built into the EMDR process to ensure the process does not become too distressing for the client to the point they risk being re-traumatized, and also that the client has the power to stop the process at any time.
What is repressed distressing memories access?
Accessing repressed distressing memories is a crucial part of the EMDR process. We should add to this the caveat that repression does not exist on a on/off scale but rather on a continuum. A client may bring with them some past experiences which are currently bothering them – they keep going over them in their mind and can’t seem to “let them go”.