We frequently hear about soldiers returning from combat in Iraq or Afghanistan who are suffering from PTSD, a serious and debilitating psychological disorder. PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is not limited to combat veterans, though the violent circumstances of war are certainly ripe conditions for its development. PTSD can result from any severe traumatic experience, especially a violent one, in people of all ages and backgrounds. The memory of that traumatic event can result in significant and long-lasting psychological and physical impairment that can manifest in a number of different ways.
When a person experiences a severely traumatic event, the memory of that event can create such responses as intense anxiety, nightmares, insomnia, anger, sadness, and depression. Often, the more the memory is repressed to avoid these unpleasant symptoms, the more severe they can become and the less able the person is to control them when the memory does come to the surface again, as it always will and often unpredictably. Many sufferers of PTSD attempt to self-medicate with alcohol, drugs, over-eating, gambling or some other avoidance behavior in order to suppress the memory and reduce the symptoms only to result in additions and a worsening of the disorder.
In the 1980s, Dr. Francine Shapiro pioneered a new type of therapy that has been more recently acknowledged and accepted by the mental health community. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR is now considered a "power" therapy in that it has been demonstrated to work much more quickly and effectively than psychotherapy and talk therapy for the treatment of PTSD. It has been proven to help resolve the "stuck" memories that cause such distress to allow the brain to reprocess the information.
During an EMDR therapy sessions, the patient is asked to concentrate on the traumatic event while tracking the quick back and forth hand movement of the PTSD therapist with the eyes only. It is believed that this eye movement mimics the rapid eye movements, or REM, that is experienced when a person is dreaming. Although it is still unknown exactly how this mechanism works, a common theory is that this REM dream state is a way for the brain to convert short term memories into long term memories. The emotional content of long term memory, or more distant events, is significantly reduced allowing that stuck memory to be reprocessed and the patient to be desensitized to the acute and negative effects.
EMDR therapists use this technique to quickly and effectively treat those who suffer from PTSD by treating the root cause of the disorder which is the memory or memories of severely traumatic events that are preventing a patient from living a fulfilling life.
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Trained therapist (http://www.jjstherapy.com/about.html) utilizes a combination of traditional talk therapy and EMDR Therapy (Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) in order to create real and lasting change as a Ventura therapist.
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