How Effective Is EMDR Therapy For PTSD

By Jody Leach


Some people have encountered several experiences which cause them to be traumatized. There are some who have undergone assault by other individuals and have been abused physically. Tragic accidents may also be causes like when the plane they are in crashes or accidents on the road. Loved ones who died due to illness or other reasons can cause trauma as well. The soldiers who are sent to war will have combat experiences.

These people may develop a disorder called PTSD or post traumatic stress disorder. For this, EMDR therapy for PTSD is used by medical practitioners. EMDR stands for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. This is one way to treat the certain disorder. There are several things a person needs to know with regards to this therapy to keep him informed.

A certain individual who is traumatized by an event may display some major changes in his behavior. He may be irritated even with slightest movements. Sleeping at night time can be hard for them. In a given period of time, he might get nightmares or flashbacks of those events that happened to him. He might find it difficult as well in concentrating on a distinct task which he is assigned to do.

This therapy is divided into eight phases. In phase one, the therapists will make assessments about the stressful experiences of the patients. The patients may want to forget these things and they will have to talk about it to the professionals. In this session, as well, goals will be set which they want to obtain at the completion of this therapy.

During the second stage, those stressful events will be talked about. Reliving the moments and narrating them to the professional will have to be done by the patient. However, his emotional stability should be ensured first. The doctor can make use of a few relaxation techniques to ensure his emotional stability so that they can proceed.

In the third until the sixth phases, the beliefs, images, emotions and sensations related to the experiences are discussed. This will be done by the patient together with following the finger of the professional which is moving back and forth. They will have to repeat this activity until the client is not stressed anymore when discussing the events.

In the seventh stage, the patient will have to take note of anything that comes to his mind about the stressful event. The last one, stage eight, he will be evaluated with regards to the changes in his behavior. This is typically done at the last moments of the therapy.

Several studies and researches have been done by various medical groups with this method as their subjects as well as its effectiveness. Some of these studies prove that the method is effective in treating traumatized clienteles. There are also some studies which state that the method does not have any advantage over any other therapies done to these people.

Some individuals have attested to this is useful to them. However, it is not clear yet whether this really is the most effective or not. The most important is that this method is created with the purpose of helping traumatized persons let go of these painful events and live their lives happily.




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