Do You Need EMDR?

"I guess I need EMDR to deal with my trauma."

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing is an evidence-based method of psychotherapy that helps people heal from traumatic life events. EMDR follows an 8-phase approach and spans several therapy sessions. This approach is helpful and many therapists swear by it. Unfortunately, these multiple sessions of EMDR can leave the client feeling stuck in the middle of a trauma between sessions, as opposed to the rapid resolution of Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), according to therapist Selena Soni.

When you've decided you are ready to get help to move past those memories that keep haunting you, it makes sense that you want to feel better quickly. It takes courage to work through something painful that happened. The idea of trying may feel pointless or even unsafe.

There is a more efficient approach.

Accelerated Resolution Therapy uses the same bilateral eye movements (imagine someone watching a tennis match- this is what your eyes will be doing in your ART session), but this approach addresses the way trauma is stored in the body. By removing the negative physical sensations from the memories, you will keep the facts about what has happened, but lose the pain associated with it. Usually, a single trauma can be healed in one ART session. 

Not all trauma therapists are trained the same way.

 If you know that you have events in your past that are affecting your relationships and your mood today, it is important to find a therapist who can efficiently help you remove the trauma from your body. What we've learned about trauma is that talking about it usually isn't what heals it. And in some cases, talking about it may reinforce the pain and make it worse. 

Because there are so many variations of how an EMDR Therapist may be trained, it is hard to know what you are getting, if EMDR is what you are shopping for. ART has two levels of training: Basic and Advanced. Both are adequate to provide Accelerated Resolution Therapy, so if you've asked for a therapist's credentials, you won't have to wonder if it is enough to help you with what you are working on. Here are some other questions that may help you determine whether a trauma therapist is right for you:

What to Look For in an ART Therapist:

• How much will I need to talk about the trauma that I am processing?
• How will I decide what to process?
• Do we need to have a talk therapy relationship before we begin doing ART?
• What if there are multiple things that I need to process? 

A qualified therapist will want to answer your questions. Even though Accelerated Resolution Therapy doesn't require you to have an ongoing therapeutic relationship with the person providing it, getting to know the therapist before you begin can put you more at ease and help you trust the process more.