Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

EMDR posits that many of our mental health symptoms, unwanted mindsets, etc. are actually based in unprocessed memories from earlier in life. The goal is to get past your past, so that the unresolved past stops affecting the present. The protocols of EMDR are designed to address traumatic memories (not just big T-Trauma, but also little t-trauma) stored in the brain in a fragmented way. By using bilateral stimulation (back and forth eye movements or tapping), EMDR stimulates the brain's own processing system (that typically comes online during rapid eye movement REM sleep), reducing the emotional charge of memories (the D in EMDR - desensitization) and reprocessing these memories, connecting them with adaptive beliefs (the R in EMDR).

The goal is to eliminate the root cause of current issues, unresolved memories, and to incorporate those memories into a life narrative that is based in reality/truth.

In EMDR, a triggering object can be any thing, person, or situation that triggers an unwanted mindset, mood, behavior, impulse, sensation or emotional reaction. The process identifies specific events that cause distress and uses them as focal points for processing. The floatback technique is used and taught to clients to help them learn the skill of identifying unresolved memories underpinning current reactions.

EMDR does not personify "parts" of the self as part of its framework, but ties into traditional cognitive behavior therapy ideas such as automatic thoughts or cognitions that are ultimately related to the hidden, subconscious unresolved memories.

Again, while EMDR is amenable to parts work and psychodynamic concepts of defenses, it does not focus on these things. Instead, it teaches you how to view unwanted or extreme behaviors (weakening the will) as originating in unresolved procedural memory (a type of memory that is like muscle memory) that is ultimately connected to unresolved episodic memories (autobiographical memory).

Traumatic memories are often stored in fragmented forms, carrying unresolved emotional pain, fear, or anger that can be triggered by reminders. Popular phrases that highlight this idea:

The past is present.

If it's hysterical it's historical.

Unresolved memories are often tied together in neural networks that are isolated from the rest of your memory system.

EMDR uses a standard 8 phase protocol to assess, identify specific unresolved memories, resolve and reprocess the memories. The Floatback Technique gives access to the unresolved network of memories. Bilateral stimulation gets your own brain to resolve them and re-associate them with adaptive, positive beliefs.

Once the memories are resolved, EMDR helps to extinguish the association between current triggers and old unwanted responses. The client is guided through a process of responding to the present with new, more mature and adaptive behaviors.

The outcome of EMDR is to have your subconscious memory system (episodic, procedural, and emotional memory) support your current cognitions and behavior. For Catholics, this means your intellect and will are freed from binding emotions so that you can respond to the present with virtue-based responses to everyday life and relationships.