EMDR AND HEALING FROM TRAUMA
EMDR AND HEALING FROM TRAUMA
By Morgan Roberts (MSW, LMSW) and Kristin Lowrey (MSW, LiCSW, PIP, REGISTERED PLAY THERAPIST SUPERVISOR)
Maggie* sought counseling to help her process the struggles she was experiencing in her marriage, as she was having a very hard time overcoming them on her own. Through counseling and preparing for her first EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy session, it was determined that she often said to herself, “I’m not good enough,” and, “I’m not worthy of love.” These negative thoughts were affecting her ability to have the marriage that God intended for her to have.
In therapy, Maggie and her therapist used these negative statements with EMDR and were able to follow those thoughts to her experiences of childhood trauma. During this process, she remembered hiding in the bathroom as a child while her parents were in the other room using drugs and fighting violently; she remembered feeling that she did something wrong and that she was not loveable.
Maggie had not previously connected those feelings to the emotional/thought struggles she was currently experiencing in her marriage. But by connecting the negative thought processes she had carried with her for so long from those childhood experiences, she was able to see that her parents’ lack of care for her was not her fault and did not speak to her worth and value.
In this work, her thoughts moved from, “I’m not good enough,” and, “I’m not worthy of love,” to, “I am good enough,” and, “I am worthy of love.” She also came to a place of forgiveness for her parents and acceptance and love for herself.
Throughout her EMDR therapy, Maggie was able to use the following verses to help guide her healing journey to integrate truth into her life:
“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; My soul knows it very well.” —Psalms 139: 13–14
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” —2 Corinthians 12:9
“The Lord your God is in your midst, A mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by his love; He will exult over you with loud singing.” —Zephaniah 3:17
TREATING TRAUMA
As has been the experience of many of our clients, Maggie was able to recall these memories directly, deal with pains of her past, and meditate on the truth of God’s Word in order to find the healing she so desperately needed to help her flourish today. Being aware of what is going on inside ourselves and being able to healthily and safely talk through trauma we’ve experienced allows us the opportunity to grow and change.
Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., founder and medical director of the Trauma Center in Brookline, Massachusetts, and one of the leading researchers of traumatic stress puts it this way: “Neuroscience research shows that the only way we can change the way we feel is by becoming aware of our inner experience and learning to befriend what is going on inside ourselves.” (p.208)
In his book, The Body Keeps the Score, Dr. van der Kolk invites clinicians to engage in the practice of treating trauma from a whole person perspective, integrating the brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Neuroscience confirms that when a person experiences a threat, the brain physiologically responds to the threat by activating the body’s fight, flight, or freeze response. When faced with danger, our senses are heightened, producing this response.
Traumatized individuals chronically feel unsafe inside their bodies. The past feels like the present, and the body responds as if it is being threatened. In an attempt to escape the perceived danger, one often becomes an expert at ignoring their gut feelings and in numbing the intolerable pain they are experiencing inside. As Dr. van der Kolk shares, “They learn to hide from their selves”. (p.97).
UNDERSTANDING EMDR THERAPY
It is a common misnomer that to heal from trauma, we must start with a story or form a chronological narrative of the precise details of the traumatic experience. It is normal, natural, and expected to want to make sense of our pain. There is incredible beauty and bravery in sharing our stories, and EMDR therapy allows us to share our stories in a way that is both non-threatening and healing.
EMDR is a type of psychotherapy that believes that the way in which a memory network is stored in the brain forms how a person experiences the world. Traumatic memories are stored without a timestamp, leaving them in “real time,” causing the person’s body, mind, and brain to respond as if it is still in danger even after the danger has passed.
EMDR therapy activates a traumatic memory through one’s images, cognitions/thinking processes, body sensations, level of disturbance, and current felt emotions. Utilizing bilateral stimulation, the therapist simply asks the client to notice these things while allowing their brain to access earlier memories that are fueling present distress. The therapist’s role is to ask, “What is happening now?” so that a person can access their body, mind, and emotions in the present to reprocess the trauma. EMDR therapy works to change the way traumatic memories are stored, freeing the mind to access new images, feelings, and thoughts.
It takes tremendous courage to engage in the work of healing from trauma through befriending the body. It requires acknowledging and tolerating what you feel long enough to apply kind, caring, self-compassion to all parts of you. It requires grieving past experiences and taking the risk to engage in new mindful practices that allow for self-regulation, connection to self and others, and the vulnerable authenticity to see yourself: brain, mind, and body, with kindness.
*Name and certain details have been changed for confidentiality
Source:
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.