Sunday, April 15, 2012

a note on EMDR

ripeness is all
~
King Lear; Shakespeare

EMDR is a powerful adjunct to therapy. When used at the right time it can be just the thing that will move someone out of stagnation and into complete recovery. In terms of inducing an immediate and thorough turnabout in a person's frame of mind it is really unparalleled compared to any other therapy I know.

Sometimes, having heard of the powerful transformations facilitated by EMDR, people come to therapy requesting it like a drug. “I need EMDR to make this bad memory go away,” they might say, thinking that EMDR is going to remove it like a surgical intervention. Or they might think that it can be used like a magic wand to bring repressed pain to the surface to be expunged without having to feel a thing. That is sadly not the case.

EMDR is not a cure. It is a way to help process painful memories so that they become less intrusive in our everyday lives. Although it provides a rapid way to gain insight and resolution over nagging problems that may have had their hooks in us for years, it does not undo the past or change who you are. It merely enables your natural ability to grow so you can adapt to the challenges in your life at your optimal capacity. The growth still depends very much on how ready you are to move on.

Just as a seed opens and blossoms in its own time, so too the human spirit. EMDR is a kind of ripening agent, like Miracle-Gro. No more nor less.