EMDR Therapy
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) Therapy is a psychotherapy treatment that is designed to alleviate the distress associated with traumatic memories.
When we experience trauma our brain may process and store the memories incorrectly. This can cause past memories to continue to cause distress and influence our present feelings and memories. When this happens we can be brought back to the same feelings and reactions as though the initial disturbing event is happening all over again. Sometimes the triggers for this might be related, and sometimes they might be unrelated. EMDR helps people to reprocess these traumatic memories so that the painful memories lose their emotional charge and intensity.
There are multiple phases to EMDR Therapy. After a thorough intake along with support to develop coping resources the desensitization and reprocessing can proceed. The therapist encourages the client to briefly focus on the trauma memory while simultaneously experiencing bilateral stimulation (typically eye movements), which is associated with a reduction in the vividness and emotion associated with the trauma memories
Processing of a specific memory is generally completed within one to three sessions. EMDR therapy differs from other trauma-focused treatments in that it does not include extended exposure to the distressing memory, detailed descriptions of the trauma, challenging of dysfunctional beliefs or homework assignments.
Flash Technique
The Flash Technique is a recently developed intervention for reducing the disturbance associated with traumatic or other distressing memories. Flash is based on the premise of EMDR, however unlike many conventional trauma therapy interventions, Flash is a minimally intrusive option that does not require the client to consciously engage with the traumatic memory. This allows the client to process traumatic memories without feeling distress. Flash can also be used during EMDR to lessen the intensity of disturbing memories prior to EMDR processing.