EMDR is a Mindfulness-Based Trauma Therapy

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is essentially a mindfulness-based trauma therapy (see my article: How EMDR Therapy Works).

EMDR is a Mindfulness-Based Trauma Therapy

Both EMDR and mindfulness are present-oriented and nonjudgmental using dual awareness to process disturbing memories. Both down-regulate the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) which reduces the emotional charge and the vividness of the trauma.

Here are the qualities that EMDR and mindfulness share in more detail:

Shared Mechanisms of EMDR and Mindfulness

• Dual Awareness and Waking Memory: EMDR uses bilateral stimulation (BLS) and mindfulness uses attentional anchors, like mindful breathing. Both mechanisms enable the brain's working memory to multitask which strips away the vividness of traumatic memories.

• The "Observer" Stance: EMDR's core prompt, "What are you noticing now?" or instructing the client to "stay to with it" is active mindfulness. It shifts the brain away from identification with trauma and treats thoughts and bodily sensations as transient phenomena.  

• Adaptive Information Processing (AIP): Both practices engage the brain's natural capacity to heal. Just as mindfulness promotes "decentering" (stepping back from negative thoughts), EMDR removes the "splinter" of dysfunctional memory networks so the mind can integrate them adaptively.

Integration in Therapy

• Stabilization: Therapists use evidence-based mindfulness strategies, like grounding and containment exercises to build distress tolerance before dealing with traumatic memories.

• Somatic Awareness: Both frameworks require deep body awareness which helps clients to track physical sensations without spiraling (see my article: The Mind-Body Connection: What is Somatic Awareness?).

Mindfulness exercises for EMDR stabilization (Phase 2) are somatic and sensory tools designed to anchor you in the present, manage distress and prevent emotional flooding before trauma processing begins:

Key EMDR stabilization exercises include:

• Relaxing Place Exercise: You identify a real or an imaginary place that brings you a deep sense of peace.  Then, you focus on vivid sensory details: sight, sound, texture and temperature. EMDR therapists often pair this with bilateral stimulation to neurologically reinforce the feeling of calm and safety (see my article: What is the Relaxing Place Exercise?).

A Relaxing Place Exercise

• The Container Exercise: This exercise helps you to mentally store overwhelming emotions, body sensations and traumatic memories. You picture placing distressing thoughts into a secure container, like a locked chest or vault, closing it and leaving it safely put away until you are ready to process it again with your EMDR therapist.

• The 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique: This sensory awareness exercise pulls you out of traumatic memories or dissociation by bringing your focus to the present room. You actively notice: 
• 5 things you can see
• 4 things you can physically feel or touch
• 3 things you can hear
• 2 things you can smell
• 1 thing you can taste

• The Butterfly Hug: This is a self-administered bilateral stimulation technique where you cross your arms over your chest, placing hands on opposite shoulders or collarbones, and giving alternating gentle taps on your right and left sides or focusing on a calm thought to self soothe when you feel triggered (see my article: What is the Butterfly Hug?).

EMDR Butterfly Hug

• Dual Awareness: One Foot in the Present and One Foot in the Past: This is a mindfulness practice where you learn to observe a distressing emotion or memory while simultaneously keeping your awareness on your body in the present moment. You might tell yourself something like, "A memory is coming up, but that happened in the past and I'm safe in this room right now."

Get Help in EMDR Therapy

EMDR therapy is a mindfulness-based therapy to overcome trauma.

Get Help in EMDR Therapy

If you have been unable to work through traumatic memories on your own or in traditional talk therapy, you could benefit from working with a licensed mental health professional who is an EMDR therapist.

Rather than suffering with unresolved trauma, seek help in EMDR therapy so you can free yourself from your traumatic history and live a more fulfilling life.

About Me

I am a licensed New York psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR, AEDP, EFT (for couples), IFS, Somatic Experiencing and Certified Sex Therapist.

I have helped many individual adults and couples over the years.

To find out more about me, visit my website: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.

 

Getting Help in Trauma Therapy: What Are Traumatic Memories?

People who seek help in trauma therapy often want to know how traumatic memories differ from standard memories.

What Are Traumatic Memories?

Let's start by defining traumatic memories.

Traumatic Memories

Traumatic memories are vivid, deeply distressing recollections of overwhelming or life threatening experiences.

Unlike regular autobiographical memories, the brain processes and stores traumatic memories as a separate cognitive entity as compared to standard past narratives.

How Are Traumatic Memories Different From Standard Memories?

Ordinary memories function like a cohesive story with a clear beginning, middle and end. However, when a traumatic event occurs, the brain's survival mechanisms alter how the information is stored in the brain:

• Lack of Narrative Structure: Traumatic memories are often highly fragmented, disorganized or temporarily missing from conscious recollection.

• Sensory-Heavy Integration: Traumatic memories are often intensely loaded with sensory data. You might remember a specific smell, a sharp sound, a visual fragment, but you might lose track of the timeline or context.

• The Current Experience: A standard unpleasant memory is recalled as a past experience. However, certain traumatic memories feel like they are happening now rather than being something that occurred in the past. When this occurs, you can feel like you're being emotionally hijacked in the moment--even though it's a memory from the past (see my article: What is Emotional Hijacking?).

How Do Traumatic Memories Manifest?

Because traumatic memories are often stored dynamically in the nervous system, they can surface in certain distinct ways:

• Intrusive Flashbacks: You might have intrusive flashbacks where you have a sudden, involuntary re-experiencing of the event triggered by everyday sights, sounds or smells that are similar to the original trauma.

Traumatic Memories

• Somatic/Bodily Memories: The body can retain physical tension, chronic pain, a racing heart or gastrointestinal distress when you are triggered. This can occur even if you are not consciously thinking about the trauma. 

• Emotional Flashbacks: You might experience a sudden emotional wave of intense fear, helplessness, anger, shame or despair that feels completely disproportionate to your current safe surroundings (see my article: What Are Emotional Flashbacks?).

• Nightmares: Repetitive, disturbing dreams can replay certain aspects of the traumatic event.

How Can You Heal From Traumatic Memories?

Traumatic memories are often "stuck" in a raw, "unmetabolized" state and traditional talk therapy usually isn't sufficient to process these memories.

Trauma therapies are specifically designed to help the brain move the fragments out of survival mode and integrate them into standard autobiographical memory. 

Common evidence-based trauma therapy include:

• EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing): EMDR uses bilateral stimulation to help with processing traumatic memories so these memories lose their charge (see my article: How Does EMDR Therapy Work?).

Traumatic Memories

• SE (Somatic Experiencing): SE focuses on releasing the traumatic energy trapped in the nervous system (see my article: What is Somatic Experiencing?).

Traumatic Memories

• IFS (Internal Family Systems Parts Work Therapy): Traumatic memories are healed by establishing a compassionate internal relationship between your Core Self and the wounded parts of your psyche. This gentle, non-pathologizing approach treats trauma as a system of protective and wounded internal parts of you (see my article: What is Internal Family Systems (IFS) Parts Work Therapy?).

Traumatic Memories

• AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy): AEDP heals traumatic memories by processing overwhelming emotions within a safe therapeutic relationship to rewire the brain's trauma response (see my article: What is AEDP and How Does It Heal Trauma?).

Get Help in Trauma Therapy

If you are experiencing emotional trauma, waiting to get help in trauma therapy can cause the trauma to become more entrenched. This can lead to more severe psychological, physical and relational complications over time.

Get Help in Trauma Therapy

Rather than waiting or struggling on your own, seek help from a licensed mental health professional who is a trauma therapist so you can overcome your trauma and live a more fulfilling life.

About Me

I am a licensed New York psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR, AEDP, EFT (for couples), IFS, Somatic Experiencing and Certified Sex Therapist.

As a trauma therapist, I have helped many individual adults and couples over the years.

To find out more about me, visit my website: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.

Also See My Articles:

Reacting to Your Present Circumstances Based on Your Traumatic Past

What is Complex Trauma? 

What is the Difference Between Trauma and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)? 

How Can Unresolved Trauma Affect Your Relationship? 

 

What is Bilateral Stimulation (BLS) in EMDR Therapy?

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy is a safe and effective therapy for processing trauma (see my article: How EMDR Therapy Works: EMDR and the Brain).

Bilateral Stimulation as Part of EMDR Therapy

EMDR has been used to treat trauma since the late 1980s when it was developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro. 

In addition to being a clinician, Dr. Shapiro was also a researcher, so she did EMDR research which demonstrated the effectiveness of EMDR to process trauma.

A key component of EMDR therapy is Bilateral Stimulation (BLS).

What is Bilateral Stimulation (BLS) in EMDR Therapy?

Let's start by defining BLS.

BLS is the use of a stimulus that activates both sides of the brain and the body which allows the processing of memories, emotions and bodily sensations which are "stuck" in the nervous system as a result of trauma.

By activating both sides of the brain and body, BLS allows more effective processing of trauma than regular talk therapy.  

Bilateral Stimulation as Part of EMDR Therapy

Clients often report feeling less distressed by traumatic memories while using BLS because BLS has an integrative function. 

In other words, instead of being "stuck," traumatic memories get integrated with other experiences so that, over time, a client's distress level decreases until these memories are no longer distressing.

In the late 1980s, when Dr. Shapiro was developing EMDR therapy, BLS only consisted of eye movements (eyes moving back and forth while following the therapist's hand).

As other EMDR therapists contributed to the development of EMDR therapy, they discovered that other types of BLS worked just as well as eye movements. 

So for instance, many EMDR therapists had clients hold a set of tappers in their hands for BLS.  The tappers buzzed back and forth from the right side to the left and back again. These therapists discovered that tappers were just as effective as using eye movements as a form of BLS.

Dr. Laurel Parnell, who developed Attachment-Focused EMDR therapy, is known for using tapping as BLS where either the therapist or the client taps alternately on their arms or knees.  

Some clients like to listen to music with headphones where the music goes from one ear to the other back and forth. 

The advantage of using BLS that doesn't involve moving the eyes back and forth is that clients can close their eyes while processing a traumatic memory so they can tune into what's happening in their body, which is an important part of EMDR therapy, a mind-body oriented therapy.

Why is BLS Used in EMDR Therapy?

EMDR research has shown that using BLS as a key component to EMDR therapy and makes it a powerful modality for processing trauma, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), other forms of anxiety and depression--to name just a few mental health issues where EMDR has been found to be highly effective.

Other Forms of BLS in Everyday Life

Aside from EMDR therapy, there are other forms of BLS in our everyday life.

Common examples of bilateral stimulation in everyday life include:

• Walking or Running: When you walk or run, you move one leg and then the other so that walking becomes a bilateral experience.

• Swimming: When you swim, you alternate using your arms and legs, which is a bilateral experience.

• Biking: When you ride a bike, you alternate each leg as you pedal, which is a bilateral experience.

People often report that when they walk, run, swim or bike, they feel better.  Many people say they come up with solutions to problems even if they're not actively thinking about these problems.

People also report feeling more relaxed after engaging in one of these activities, similar to how many clients experience BLS as part of EMDR therapy.

How is BLS Related to Memory Reconsolidation?

BLS is thought to be similar to REM (rapid eye movement) sleep.  

REM is a phase of sleep where memories are reconsolidated.

Since BLS activates both sides of the brain, similar to REM, it allows for communication and integration between fragmented parts of traumatic memories which have been stored in different parts of the brain.

EMDR Processing and Memory Reconsolidation

During EMDR reprocessing of a traumatic memory, the memory is brought back into consciousness during BLS and it is restored into long term memory with less vividness and intensity.  This is how memories that are "stuck" get "unstuck."

Over time, processing traumatic memories using BLS during EMDR sessions, makes the traumatic memories less distressing. When memories are restored in long term memory with less distress, the client experiences emotional healing.

They also understand on an emotional level (not just on a cognitive level) that the trauma is from the past and they no longer feel the negative impact in the present (see my article: Reacting to the Present Based on Your Traumatic Past).

This process is not something that happens in just a few sessions, especially if the trauma is longstanding and complex.  However, EMDR therapy is usually faster and more effective than regular talk therapy.

Also, see my article: EMDR Therapy Online is Just as Effective as EMDR in Person

Getting Help in EMDR Therapy

If you have been unable to resolve traumatic experiences on your own, you could benefit from working with a Trauma Therapist who does EMDR therapy.

Getting Help in EMDR Therapy

See my article: EMDR Therapy - When Talk Therapy Isn't Enough)

Working through unresolved trauma can help you to lead a more meaningful life.

About Me

I am a licensed New York City psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR, AEDP, EFT, Somatic Experiencing and Sex Therapist.

I work with individual adults and couples.

I have helped many clients overcome unresolved trauma using EMDR therapy and other forms of trauma therapy (see my article: What is a Trauma Therapist?).

To find out more about me, visit my website: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.