EMDR THERAPY WITH CHILDREN AND TEENS
How Can EMDR Therapy Help My Child?
What is EMDR Therapy?
EMDR Therapy (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a psychotherapy approach developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro to help people heal from trauma or adversities such as abuse, domestic violence, grief/loss, attachment wounds, abandonment, PTSD as well as many other complicated life issues. EMDR is a structured therapy that encourages the person to focus briefly on the trauma memory while simultaneously experiencing bilateral stimulation (typically eye movements) to reduce the vividness and emotion associated with the trauma memories.
Adaptive Information Processing Model
EMDR integrates elements of traditional psychological orientations and is based on the adaptive information processing model (AIP). The AIP model believes there is an innate information processing system in the brain that gets blocked when a traumatic or adverse event occurs, causing the event to get stuck or locked in the brain with the original picture, sounds, thoughts, feelings, and body sensations. An individual might become triggered with those pictures, thoughts, feelings, and sensations when there is a reminder of the traumatic or adverse event. According to Dr. Shapiro, many emotional problems and disorders are presentations of these unprocessed trauma memories that are stored in the brain. EMDR therapy assists the individual by helping the brain reprocess these traumatic memories, and as a result reduces emotional and psychological disorders.
EMDR Therapy with Children
First, let me explain what EMDR can do for us. When we have yucky stuff happen to us, we can have mixed-up feelings and mixed-up thoughts. As we walk around in our lives, we can feel weighted down by these mixed-up feelings and thoughts as if we are carrying heavy bags.
When we are so busy carrying around these bags, we have less room in our lives for the good feelings and good thoughts. EMDR can help children make their bags they are carrying smaller. When a child receives EMDR, they follow their counselor’s fingers as they move to the right, then left, causing their eyes to move back and forth while thinking about the yucky thing that happened to them. This is something that happens naturally when we sleep at night and dream which is also called REM sleep. Therefore, we can wake up feeling differently about experiences from the day before that were upsetting us when we went to sleep. Other times, EMDR can look like tapping on your knees back and forth, drumming, marching, hearing sounds that move from one ear to another, or holding ‘Tappers’ that vibrate from one hand to another. With children, EMDR gets playfully integrated as the yucky stuff comes up in the playroom.
EMDR and Our Brains
Our brains have a natural ability to heal from traumatic memories or events. When different parts of the brain are communicating well, successful healing can happen. The three areas involved are the amygdala (the alarm signal for stressful events), the hippocampus (which assists with learning, including memories about safety and danger), and the prefrontal cortex (which analyzes and controls behavior and emotion). Often, the traumatic experiences can be managed and resolved on their own, and other times they may need to be processed with help.
For more information visit this site: https://www.emdria.org/
Stories from children:
After EMDR therapy, one child said, “They just popped out of my head, the monsters are gone.”
Other children say little at all, but their behavior changes and parents state: “Things are back on track.”
EMDR can be used with both young and older children and teens. Case reports indicate that EMDR has been used successfully with preverbal children, as well as with teens who do not want to talk out loud about the upsetting issues. As with any intervention, the younger the child or the more avoidant the child, the more challenging it is to find ways to engage them and focus their attention on the problem at hand.
One ten-year old wore a body cast for a year and was preoccupied with injury, illness, and death due to a traumatic accident. After EMDR, she began crying tears of joy and stated, “I’m so happy, it really is over and I am strong.”
Another five-year-old boy who had behavioral problems and worked with the therapist using other kinds of therapy, tried EMDR and stated, “Why didn’t you do this with me before?”
It is helpful for parents and professionals to explain that EMDR is a way to get over troubling thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. EMDR has been used to help children deal with traumatic events, depression, anxiety, phobias, and other behavioral problems. The EMDR process is different for each child, because the healing process is guided from within. Some children report that EMDR is relaxing and have an immediate positive response. Other children may feel tired at the end of a session, and the benefit from the treatment comes in the days to follow.
