EMDR
Channel 2 News Segment showing how EMDR was used to treat an Iraqi war veteran suffering from PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Video segment shows how this individual who was functioning fine after returning from completing his tours of duty in the Gulf war in Iraq, suddenly began experiencing PTSD after being triggered by a local disaster he was witness to in Santa Monica. He underwent EMDR treatment to help him resolve originating traumas that stemmed all the way back to his childhood, the war and the current incident that triggered the emotional flooding and helped him regain full functioning.
Link to EMDR Articles and Research Information - Interesting stories and articles about the power of EMDR in healing the effects of trauma such as symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder also known as PTSD, depression, anxiety, phobias, panic attacks, guilt, fear, chronic pain resulting from physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, child abuse, rape, traumatic surgeries, accidents, falls, sports and car accident injuries; Sports Performance Enhancement for athletes, creative artists such as actors, writers, artisans; Brain Research information and Scientific Findings on EMDR
Emotional Healing At Warp Speed - By David Grand, Ph.D.
Review from Publishers Weekly. Crediting Francine Shapiro with originating the technique just 21 years ago, Long Island psychotherapist Grand explains eye movement desensitization and reprocessing ( EMDR ) therapy for a popular audience. With 40,000 trained EMDR practitioners, this recent addition to the therapeutic arsenal has tremendous potential, he argues, for healing the effects of trauma, relieving depression, enhancing creativity and performance and improving studying and test taking. Focusing on a "target image" associated with a traumatic memory, the patient is led through a step-by-step process of recalling scenes, emotions and physical sensations while receiving "bilateral stimulation" through guided eye movements, alternating sounds in headphones or alternately receiving squeezes, massaging rubs or taps on the left and right sides of the body.
According to Grand, one-time traumas (car accidents, bombings, hurricanes) can be released in one session, even in a few minutes, while deeper disturbances (repeated child abuse, war experiences) may take longer and may involve additional methods of therapy. He provides compelling anecdotal evidence of EMDR's effectiveness with train engineers traumatized by suicides and accidents on the tracks; survivors of the Oklahoma City bombing and Florida's Hurricane Andrew; mothers of slain children in Brooklyn; residents of Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Israel and the occupied territories; survivors of child abuse; and professional actors and athletes.
While many readers may still find it doubtful that any EMDR therapy could work on all patients, especially in such rapid time, Grand presents an intriguing case for his approach. (Aug. 21) Forecast: The claim of "warp speed" healing will attract deserved media scrutiny, while Grand's passion for his subject will help sell the book. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Review from Library Journal. According to psychotherapist Grand, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), a body/mind therapy that stimulates the brain and physiological network through left-right eye movements, is an effective way to heal emotional scars. Grand carefully outlines the steps necessary to practicing EMDR properly and includes limitations regarding self-use.
Not only can EMDR help maximize athletic performance and foster artistic creativity, he contends, but it can also mend traumas stemming from exposure to hurricanes, bombings, and war. Real-life examples of successful EMDR patients are engaging.
Although it takes awhile to grasp the author's point, it is worth the wait: as we come to honor the interconnectedness of sensory memory and body experience in ourselves, we will move from a place of healing our psychic traumas to a better place that of inner crisis prevention at the outset. Unusual and thought-provoking, this is recommended for large mental health collections of public libraries. Lisa Liquori, Syracuse, NY
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc
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SOMATIC EXPERIENCING
Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma - By Peter A. Levine, Ph.D.
Reviewed October 7, 2000 (NY,NY) This exciting, insightful book reinforces the wholeness of the human vehicle, that our body and triune brain of instinct, emotion and rationality are totally connected to the human experience and to our connection with all of life. The book explains why humans are often frozen in trauma, unlike animals who daily cope with the unpredictability of nature and man. For humans, as is true for animals, the potential for trauma exists from birth through death, with at least one major difference - that humans have a harder time releasing trauma and many carry it all of their lives, which causes major interference with health, peace of mind and the ability to live joyfully and creatively. When human trauma remains unhealed, the energy of the trauma and accompanying emotions will remain locked within the brain and held within the body's musculature, tissues and organs awaiting discharge.
Like Sleeping Beauty awaiting her restoration to life once the poisoned apple is dislodged, those with deep psychological scars have disassociated the memory from their minds and are living in a numbed, tensed body awaiting its release so the body can return to wholeness and optimum mental and physical health. The author persuasively asserts that psychological wounds are reversible and that healing comes when the physical and mental letting go occurs, similar to the way the tiger experiences the coming and going of threat, tensing in response to danger, and as the threat passes, the tiger's muscles shake, twitch and let go right then and there the fear related energy which now is forever out of mind and body. So, too, Peter Levine states, can humans learn to release long-held and/or current trauma without return. The book is well-written, peppered with healing stories, and details step-by-step instructions on how to listen to the wisdom of the body to release trauma and heal. Consider this book as one great step forward to expanding the frontier of body/mind energy work that is emerging as the most comprehensive and effective wellness paradigm of the future.
| After reading Peter Levine's book I found a practitioner of "Somatic Experiencing" from his web site in my city. From the first day I saw her I have been releasing trauma in the gentlest way I have ever experienced. This method has helped me release trauma that no other method has ever done and releases from the deepest layers I thought I would just have to live with forever. I have very complex PTSD from years of severe and sadistic child abuse from several perpetrators. Talk therapy, journaling, art therapy were helpful but just couldn't clear the fear, grief, hopelessness, that I carried. Emotional Freedom technique was also helpful and some other body therapies but this is my favorite. There is a LOT more to the healing techniques of Somatic Experiencing than in this book. I look forward to learning more techniques to clear the trauma from my body/mind. Somatic Experiencing is giving me the life I struggled so hard for in many years of previous therapy to attain. And it is so much easier, with less tears, hard work and pain! I have never experienced the levels of inner peace and calm that I have now. All my relationships are improving as well. For someone like myself, this will take more than 6 sessions as one person mentioned. I have a highly skilled therapist who is trained by Dr. Peter Levine in Somatic Experiencing. I know it will take many months to complete my healing but I have accomplished more in 15 sessions with her than being in therapy off and on for 16 years, reading books, and doing all kinds of things to get my life back. My life is just easier in every way. Thank you, Dr. Peter Levine, for helping me heal so I have a life worth living and making a difference in my son's life as well. |