The Effectiveness Of EMDR Therapy For PTSD

By Jody Leach


There are several events that could cause trauma to a number of people. There are some who were assaulted by other people or were physically abused. There are those who encountered tragic accidents such as plane crashes and car accidents. Someone that they love so much may have died because they were sick or because of other causes. Soldiers who have gone to war has enough combat experiences.

For this, a post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD may be developed in an individual. For this, an eye movement desensitization and reprocessing or EMDR therapy for PTSD has been used. This is one of the ways in treating the said disorder. An individual will need to know several things about this therapy to help keep him informed about it.

Certain individuals who have experienced traumatic events may exhibit several changes in their behaviors. The slightest movements might be causes of irritation for them. They find it difficult to sleep at night. They might have flashbacks of the events and nightmares once in a while. Concentrating on a specific task which they are asked to perform can be difficult for them.

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.

In phase two, the stressful experiences which occurred to them will be talked upon. The patients will have to relive those moments and narrate them to the medical professionals. However, the clients need to be emotionally stable so that they can proceed with this endeavor. The practitioners can use a number of relaxation techniques to make sure that they are stable emotionally before they continue.

In phases three to six, the images, beliefs, sensations, and emotions which are related to the events will be discussed. The clients will have to talk about them while they follow the movement of the finger of the practitioners with their eyes, back and forth. This activity needs to be repeated until the patients are not stressed anymore while they are discussing the events.

In phase number seven, the stressful experiences and anything about it should be written down by the clienteles. In phase eight, which is the last one, there will be an evaluation of the changes of the behaviors of these clients. Usually, this would mark the end of the therapy.

The effectiveness of this method has been the subject of several researches and studies done by several medical groups. There are studies which prove that this method is really effective when treating traumatized patients. However, there are also studies which would say that it does not have superiority over other therapies being administered to traumatized people.

This method has been useful to some individuals. However, its effectiveness has not been clearly answered yet. The important thing is that the goal of this method is helping other individuals to let go of the stressful events which are hindering them to live their lives.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment