- Introduction
The objective of this essay is to introduce, describe and raise awareness among psychology students of the tool called EMDR. It is the acronym for “eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing”. It is a psychotherapeutic method discovered by Dr. Francine Shapiro in 1987 (Shapiro, 1989).
- Why use this tool with patients?
After a trauma, a subject can completely rebuild his or her life around trauma. Post-traumatic stress symptoms such as heart palpitations, tremors, chills, flashbacks, dissociation from emotions, sleep disorders etc. appear… EMDR is then a proposed tool to manage post-traumatic stress disorder.
- What are the basics of EMDR?
The events of our lives are encoded at the neurological level according to patterns. Trauma leaves powerful neurological traces. However, often these neurological traces are dead ends from which people cannot get out. EMDR then focuses on trauma mapping to ensure that the impasse is no longer a dead end and that the subject creates new circuits to assimilate and incorporate the traumatic event.
- What is the process?
The principle is to expose the patient to the traumatic event, by recall, and this, by simultaneously associating an alternating bilateral sensory stimulation (Roques, 2016). Bilateral sensory stimulation can be achieved by moving the eyes, tapping the subject’s upper knee or using headphones that project sound to the left and then the right ear. Indeed, alternating bilateral stimuli will allow the subject to re-process information at the neuronal level. EMDR consists of eight treatment phases: history, preparation, assessment, desensitization, installation, body scan, closure and reassessment (Shapiro, 1989).
- EMDR: a really effective tool?
This tool has been recognized, by various national mental health services, as a therapeutic tool for the management of post-traumatic stress, acute stress and also bereavement (APA, 2010, OMS, 2013). In addition, several meta-analyses such as Bisson and Andrew’s (2007) have shown that the therapeutic effects obtained with EMDR to treat post-traumatic stress disorder are equivalent and as durable as those obtained with cognitive behavioural therapies (CBT) (Bisson & Andrew, 2005).
- Conclusion
Although EMDR therapy first developed as an adult therapy, the diverse needs of children and adolescents were later recognized. In addition, numerous studies prove the effectiveness of this tool also in children and adolescents with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. So, for us, future development psychologists, this tool can integrate our toolkit to support and offer a complete and diverse care to children and adolescents.
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New Words:
- tremors : tremblements
- chills : frissons
- bilateral sensory stimulation : stimulation sensorielle bilateral
- bereavement : deuil
Ressources :
- American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6ème éd.). Washington, DC : Auteur.
- Bisson J, Andrew M. (2005). Traitement psychologique du trouble de stress post-traumatique (SSPT). La collaboration Cochrane.
- Roques, J. (2016). Introduction – Qu’est-ce que l’EMDR ?. L’EMDR, 2(1), 4-6.
- Shapiro, F. (1989). Efficacy of the Eye Movement Desensitization procedure in the treatment of traumatic memories. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 2(2), 199-223.