EMDR - it's a kind of magic! 

It wasn't exactly EMDR the rock band Queen had in mind when they wrote their hit song. It is however a song that often springs to mind when I have had clients in EMDR therapy. 

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing and it's a name that is just as unhelpful as the treatment method is helpful. Perhaps it sounds very mysterious and hypnosis-like with those eye movements. 

I understand that well - I felt the same way before I got to know EMDR. One of the great things about EMDR is that it can work even if you're a bit skeptical beforehand!

So let's start somewhere else.

EMDR is a form of treatment originally developed for working through psychological traumas. It's on the WHO's list of recognized treatments for PTSD. Today it's used more broadly and also for more complex forms of PTSD, (C-PTSD / complex PTSD), where the trauma, for example, went on for a longer period, took place in important relationships, repeatedly and/or early in life.

The treatment of complex PTSD is therefore also more complex, and EMDR is therefore explained based on a single trauma, even though the EMDR approach is used with good effect for complex PTSD.

Regardless, the premise is the same.

And it has parallels to other processes in our system.

For example, have you ever thought about how wonderful it is that if you get a cut, you just need to clean the wound and then it grows together completely on its own?

We're so used to the body healing itself.

I have sometimes been to a dance festival, danced for many hours in a row, gone to bed completely exhausted and sore in my body only to wake up the next day feeling fresh and mobile. During sleep, the body has worked hard to repair my cells, and I actively need to stop and think about it with gratitude, rather than just take the healing process for granted (and continue my dancing ways).

In the same way, there are self-healing forces in our mind.

That might sound a bit woo-woo. Nevertheless, all people go through difficult things that our mind can make fall into place, so we experience a kind of order in our understanding of the world, ourselves and others.

Completely on its own.

Typically this process happens, just like with the rest of the body, when we sleep or otherwise give the brain rest. A kind of internal clean-up work happens every single night.

But. If there's a shock to the system and we experience something that "doesn't fit," then our self-healing system can become overwhelmed. If we, for example, are subjected to an unprovoked assault, a traffic accident or another form of extraordinary stress, the experience can rumble around, in the same way as food that is difficult to digest.

Our "mental digestive system" cannot digest what happened and we cannot find a "shelf" to place the experience on.

We know from research that one can recover here too without psychological harm, especially if one has good social support. But sometimes even with supporting surroundings we will continue to have after-reactions to what happened. When we cannot put what happened into a meaningful context, it continues to disturb our system and cause discomfort every time we're reminded of it.

If the shock is sufficiently large or if we are very young when the shocking event occurs, the memory can become frozen in time, in the same raw form as when it took place.

All the details from the trauma are in a way inside a "capsule" in time and space. Because the raw and undigested memories are unpleasant to think about, we tend to avoid them. Perhaps we succeed in keeping it out of awareness by more or less unconsciously pushing it away.

Our mind thus reacts to overwhelm by trying to suppress the memories of what happened. Only for the memories to pop up and overwhelm us emotionally at times when we are not so much on guard. For example, when we are about to sleep - as sleep always involves letting go of mental control. It's as if the entire "capsule" opens up and all the unpleasant content spills out. And we become overwhelmed again. There will therefore often be a "vicious circle" between avoidance and overwhelm. This can mean that we both restrict our lives, feel constantly stressed and out of control.

Perhaps we stop going to places that remind us of what happened, avoid sensory stimuli that remind us of when the trauma took place, and perhaps we keep ourselves (mentally) busy to distract ourselves from our thoughts going to trauma-related places. 

In fact, traumatic memories work a bit like a beach ball under pressure.

Do you remember the feeling of putting your whole body on a large inflatable beach ball to press it under the water? For some reason, many of us have made that attempt. Perhaps you recall that the beach ball exerts counter-pressure, that you use a lot of energy and yet at some point, the beach ball "slips," pops up from the water. "Pressure creates counter-pressure." You fall into the water and when you come up, the beach ball takes up your entire view.

It's the same with unprocessed, traumatic memories. You can fight against them, but at some point your strength will run out and the memories will take up space in your mind.

Where does the self-healing aspect of the mind come into this? That doesn't sound so smart?

The mind actually tries through the re-experiences to get you to digest what happened. The mind shows you that what happened in the past is still disturbing and hasn't found its place. The problem is just that if it's very unpleasant to think about the memory, most of us will instinctively avoid the mind's attempts at this. Perhaps because there's gotten a bit of "grit in the machinery." In the same way that dirt can get in a wound, making the wound infected.

Part of what can make a memory still feel very difficult to deal with is if the mind has placed it on some "shelves" that, for example, give us shame, but a sense of control ("it was my fault"), a constant state of alert ("the world is a dangerous and totally unpredictable place") or weaken relationships with others ("I can't trust anyone").

Therefore we do two things in EMDR.

One is that we confront the difficult memory in a "controlled way." Together we open the "capsule" and look at what negative thoughts you have about yourself when you think about what happened and how you feel the discomfort in your body. When the memory is activated - the capsule is open - it can connect to all the adaptive knowledge and experience you have, which tells a different story ("it's over," "it wasn't my responsibility," "I am good enough" ...)

And this is where the eye movements come into play.

Because when the memory is “active”, the self-healing system is set in motion.

In EMDR, the eye movements are simply used as a way to activate the brain’s natural ability to process psychological experiences. When the eyes move from side to side, both hemispheres of the brain are engaged, and adaptive life experiences and knowledge become more accessible. 

It is not only eye movements that can do this, but any side-to-side stimulation, such as “tapping” on each side of the body, hearing a sound alternately in one ear and then the other, and so on. It is not known exactly why it works so well – only that it works better than not doing it (this very question has in fact been thoroughly examined in research).

And you are not alone in this process. There is also the EMDR psychologist’s regulated nervous system, experience and knowledge, and their full, kind attention on you and your healing process.

One of the other things that is exciting about EMDR is that the change is felt from within. The self-healing system is merely supported in putting the memory or memories in place in a way that no longer disturbs everyday life. Small inputs can of course be offered by your psychologist if needed, but for the most part it is your brain itself that carries out the healing work. This builds self-confidence.

When the memory has been processed, it will feel neutral to think about. What was once filled with discomfort is now a distant memory. Negative thoughts about oneself will no longer arise when recalling what happened; instead, a neutral or even positive thought about oneself becomes possible. Within a short time, a transformation has taken place. 

It is almost a kind of magic. And there is no need to go through the wardrobe to Narnia to experience it.