The area of PTSD treatment has changed a lot over the last few years, with new treatments being developed that can help relieve sufferers of this debilitating condition. One of the most effective forms is arguably EMDR therapy, with studies having shown that it can dramatically accelerate the healing process to deliver long-lasting results, and that means offering this treatment could be a great way to help your patients.
EMDR (or Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) works by helping the brain to reprocess information that’s become “stuck”. When a traumatic event occurs the brain can be overwhelmed and its normal processing systems will shut down, resulting in the emotionally-charged memory repeating itself without losing any of its distress, but EMDR helps re-set things so the memory is no longer so upsetting. It involves a process of repeated bilateral stimulation of the brain whilst the traumatic memory is recalled, something that’s thought to create biochemical changes to help process information, with the action essentially mimicking what the brain does naturally during REM sleep.
This form of adaptive information processing can be a highly natural and effective treatment for PTSD, helping the sufferer to reprocess and deal with the traumatic event so they can ultimately move on with their lives. Tens of thousands of therapists across the globe have undergone EMDR training to help sufferers cope with and overcome PTSD, so if you want to be one of them make sure to look for accredited EMDR training courses and you could soon be helping your clients on the road to recovery.
