About Treatment: EMDR and CBT
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) is a powerful psychological technique, which uses bilateral brain stimulation, such as eye movements, to reduce many types of emotional distress. Such distress may be caused by trauma or disturbing experiences, stress and anxiety. EMDR is not as stressful as some other treatments and is often preferred by patients. EMDR works safely and rapidly.
When an individual is traumatised, they experience such strong emotions that it is thought to overwhelm the brain. Normal brain functioning or processing is interrupted and the memories of the trauma seem to become "frozen in time". An individual consequently often painfully relives the event and subsequently becomes very distressed. They do all they can to avoid reminders of the event. Their lives may be affected generally.
EMDR seems to directly influence the way that the brain functions. It helps to restore normal ways of dealing with problems, (i.e. information processing). Following successful EMDR treatment, memories of the event are no longer painful when brought to mind. What happened can still be recalled, but it is less upsetting. EMDR appears to mimic what the brain does naturally on a daily basis during dreaming or REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. EMDR can be thought of as an inherently natural therapy, which assists the brain in working through distressing material.
Research studies have shown that EMDR can markedly accelerate the healing process after a traumatic experience and that the effects are long lasting. In fact, there are now more scientifically controlled studies on the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorders with EMDR than with any other form of psychological treatment. EMDR is now also used for problems other than trauma. EMDR is highly effective, preferred by clients and generally of shorter duration than other treatment methods. In March 2005 the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommended EMDR as one of the two treatments of choice (the other being trauma-focused CBT, discussed below) for Posttraumatic Stress Disorders. See also "Awards and Publications".
Only registered health care professionals, additionally fully trained in EMDR, should practice this form of treatment. In the UK and Ireland, the body overseeing training standards is The EMDR UK and Ireland Association (EMDRUKI) and EMDR Europe (EMDREA).
CBT
What is Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) ?
Cognitive Therapy came into its own approximately 40 years ago. Its most famous exponent was Aaron Beck who developed his cognitive model as a reaction against the theoretical excesses and practice limitations of psychoanalysis. Many "counsellors" still use a diluted version of one of the basic tenets of psychoanalysis, i.e. that the solution for current problems lie in the past and specifically in the early mother-child relationship, even when the patient/client presents with recent trauma, depression, or absence from work due to stress.
The role of Thinking Processes or Cognitions (Thoughts)
Researchers and psychologists became aware of the important role of thinking processes in determining mood and explaining human behaviour. Changing negative thoughts often leads to a positive change in feelings.
The way we look at ourselves, others and the world determines behaviour. For example, an anxious person's world view would be one of danger/threat and they would regard themselves as vulnerable and other people as hostile. The depressed person in turn would see themselves as bad or unloveable, others rejecting and the world unconcerned.
Not all knowledge is stored in the same way in the brain, making it more or less accessible to retrieve. CBT therapists refer to automatic negative thoughts, which may not be conscious and often appear "out of the blue," (i.e. "I'll never be a success in life") as "hot thoughts", as they directly affect mood.
There are also deep, relatively stable mental structures within us which reflect our fundamental, core beliefs about ourselves. Such a belief may be "I am a Failure." Especially in times of stress, all incoming experience gets filtered through these sets of structures or core beliefs. In the process the data becomes transformed so that it would fit in with the person's pre-conceived ideas or core beliefs. This process of "distortion" that takes place makes use of a number of thinking styles which research has unveiled:
Common Thinking Distortions/Styles:
Making arbitrary inferences; thinking in all-or-nothing
terms; minima-sing positive information; "mind reading",
catastrophic thinking and negatively predicting the future,
are examples of thinking errors.
Such distorted thinking styles again act as a filter so
that the person processes experience in a highly idiosyncratic
form, sometimes very different from its pre-processed
or actual state.
Cognitions (Thoughts) and low mood
It is theorised that, once a person's mood is depressed, they are more likely to be able to access automatic negative thoughts, negative assumptions and core beliefs, which were dormant or unconscious before they started getting low in their mood. These usually refer to earlier periods in the person's life when they also suffered low mood or experienced distressing times It would seem that low mood is in turn reinforced when a person accesses negative beliefs about themselves (such as I am unliveable/weak/a failure e.g.) as it makes then more vulnerable and less able to cope.
CBT is useful for:
Treating depression, anxiety disorders, panic and posttraumatic stress disorders. In therapy, the client makes use of self-monitoring strategies to get baseline information on how they use their time, when they are most likely to experience anxious or low mood, and they are taught to "capture" negative dysfunctional thoughts which is then systematically challenged with the help of the therapist and a specific protocol.
CBT relies on:
A complete personal history being taken from
the client to guide therapy with close collaboration
between therapist and client at all times; The therapist
explicitly sharing the therapeutic model and the client
giving regular feedback on progress.
Success is also highly reliant on the clients
doing "homework" in between sessions. Clients who fail
to commit to "homework", does not fare as well in CBT.