Eye
Movement
Desensitisation
Reprocessing
EMDR for Complex Trauma
What is EMDR?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a structured psychotherapy approach designed to help individuals process and heal from traumatic or distressing experiences. During EMDR sessions, clients focus briefly on traumatic memories while simultaneously experiencing bilateral stimulation—typically through guided eye movements. This process is associated with a reduction in the vividness and emotional intensity of the trauma memories, facilitating adaptive processing.
EMDR has been extensively researched and is recognised by the World Health Organisation as the gold standard for trauma treatment.
Studies on EMDR have found that 77% of clients said they had completely recovered from their trauma symptoms (and remained this way at the 6 month follow-up) after 6.5, 50-90 minute sessions.
Why Combine EMDR with Hypnotherapy?
Integrating EMDR with hypnotherapy can enhance therapeutic outcomes by leveraging the strengths of both modalities:
Enhanced Access to Traumatic Material: Hypnosis can facilitate deeper access to subconscious memories, making it easier to identify and process traumatic experiences.
Improved Reprocessing: While hypnosis aids in accessing traumatic information, EMDR focuses on reprocessing these memories, helping to alleviate distress and promote healing.
Synergistic Healing: Combining these therapies can lead to a more comprehensive treatment, addressing both the conscious and subconscious aspects of trauma, and fostering long-lasting emotional well-being.
For further information on EMDR, the following website provides a clear description of this therapy and what to expect: https://www.emdr.com/what-is-emdr/
More than 30 positive controlled outcome studies have been done on EMDR therapy.
Some of the studies show that 84%-90% of single-trauma victims no longer have post-traumatic stress disorder after only three 90-minute sessions. Another study, funded by the HMO Kaiser Permanente, found that 100% of the single-trauma victims and 77% of multiple trauma victims no longer were diagnosed with PTSD after only six 50-minute sessions. In another study, 77% of combat veterans were free of PTSD in 12 sessions.
There has been so much research on EMDR therapy that it is now recognized as an effective form of treatment for trauma and other disturbing experiences by organisations such as the American Psychiatric Association, the World Health Organization and the US Department of Defense.
What happens in an EMDR Session?
EMDR has a very prescribed process. In the first session you will work with Natalie to ensure you are mentally prepared to handle EMDR therapy. You will be experience Hypnosis that creates a “safe place” in your mind and you are given resources/techniques that you can use to calm your mind and nervous system after a session. EMDR is not for the faint hearted. Bringing up difficult memories in this way feels like you are back in the moment, so it is essential you are well-prepared to handle what arises. In future sessions, you will select a memory to “reprocess”. Natalie will ask questions such as what you believe to be true about yourself when you think of the memory, what you wish were true, and how distressing it is.
You then play the memory over and over in your mind like a short You Tube video. After it has been replayed one or multiple times, you discuss how distressing the memory is until the memory no longer feels upsetting. This is the painful part of EMDR - you replay the memory over and over until the emotion discharges from the thoughts. Although the sessions are difficult, the results are astounding for many clients.
For EMDR to be give the best results for Complex PTSD it is likely you will need 6-12 sessions. For single-event trauma you may need 2-9 sessions.
