EMDR FOR THE TREATMENT OF DEPRESSION
One of the many problems associated with depression is the belief that there is no way out of the pit of despair. In other words, hopelessness. If you struggle with depression, then you may be familiar with this feeling. You may have even tried counseling before, only to find it unhelpful. And those setbacks only compound the sense of hopelessness.
As this pattern continues, you develop a belief that there is nothing that you can do to fix the problem. You decide it will always be like this. But, what if there was a different way?
Eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing, or EMDR, is a therapy modality that can be used for depression. Yet, how effective is this treatment?
THE BASICS OF EMDR
EMDR is a treatment method that, in it’s most simplified version, utilizes eye-movements in conjunction with guidance from a therapist to help you process traumatic memories.
The therapist begins by taking a history of your issue (in this case, depression), and how it has affected you. This process is used to best determine how to tailer the EMDR to meet your needs specifically. While they are going through your history, they will also teach you coping methods to handle the strong emotions that will likely come up during treatment. This is called resourcing.
In session, the therapist may ask you to bring up a memory from the past that causes you distress. As they guide you through experiencing the memory, you will use bilateral stimulation (either eye movement, tapping, or audio stimuli). As you use bilateral stimulation, you will allow yourself to experience the emotions evoked by the memory.
WHY EMDR CAN BE EFFECTIVE IN TREATING DEPRESSION
Depression can be a complicated issue. The reason is that the depression can come from a variety of means. Certainly, biology plays a role. If you have a parent that struggles with depression, there is a chance that you may struggle with it as well.
On the other hand, depression can arise from life experiences as well. These life experiences often are the result of trauma that you have endured. It could be a major loss or witnessing a violent act. Or it could be trauma that is experienced repeatedly.
All these experiences may cause you to develop a variety of beliefs:
· No understands me
· I feel powerless to do anything about this
· I don’t deserve help
In some cases, the depression may stretch so far back that it’s all you’ve ever experienced. It becomes a way of life. And in many cases you can’t even imagine life without depression.
What makes EMDR so effective for depression is that you have power over what is happening to you. You have the ability, and even permission, to feel those emotions and memories that you have been struggling with for so long.
With the help of the bilateral stimulation, your brain is able to finally process those memories and thoughts and you will feel less emotional intensity when thinking of the negative beliefs.
Upon completion of EMDR therapy, the thoughts and memories are no longer at the forefront of your mind. Yes, the thoughts and memories will still exist as they are your lived experiences. However they won’t contribute to your feeling depressed as they had before. It will be like a burden has been released.
EMDR is a powerful tool that focuses on healing. It’ not meant to bring up old memories that you’d prefer to forget. Instead, it’s about being able to put the memories to rest. And with that you no longer have to be defined by those thoughts, allowing your depression to finally lift.