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EMDR is a psychotherapeutic technique being used to help children, adolescents and adults with a wide range of anxiety-related problems, including trauma, phobias, sleeping difficulties, etc.
When a person is traumatised, the brain healing process may become overloaded, leaving the original disturbing experiences unprocessed. These “raw” memories are stored in the brain and can continue to cause trouble when current events trigger memories of the trauma causing distress from flashbacks, anxiety, panic, and other emotional and physical symptoms, and impeding the person to move on in their lives. EMDR is a powerful psychotherapy and can bring very rapid and substantial changes even for long standing symptoms of trauma as proven by sound research with war veterans (for further information about EMDR and research see www.emdr.org.uk ).
EMDR is a complex method of psychotherapy that integrates many of the successful elements of a range of therapeutic approaches, combining them with eye movements or other forms of bilateral stimulation (e.g. hand tapings, light bars, tactile devices, etc.) in ways that seem to stimulate the brain’s information processing system to desensitise and reprocess the traumatic memories.
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is not a type of therapy, but it is a technique that can be used to facilitate and enhance the effectiveness of therapy. Hypnotic “trance” is a waking state in which the person’s attention is detached from his or hers immediate environment and is absorbed by inner experiences such as feelings, thoughts and imagination. The hypnotist uses the trance state to make suggestions and the person follows by producing changes in feelings, sensations and behaviour. For example, a suggestion may be for a person to concentrate on her/his hands and feel it becoming lighter and lighter until it levitates. Although it is of course the person who is moving his/her arm, there is a feeling that the arm is moving all by itself because the movement is automatic and involuntary. Stage hypnotists and their freaky shows have done a lot to misguide lay audiences into believing that hypnosis is about a hypnotist having power over individuals. Contrary to that, the person in hypnotic trance does not loose control.
Hypnosis has been used in the treatment of depression, anxiety, stress, habit disorders, phobias, obsessive behaviours, trauma, etc. Hypnosis as part of a therapy treatment can help the person to use their own inner resources to overcome debilitating psychological and emotional problems. Hypnosis and EMDR are techniques that combine well in a treatment program.
Length of Therapy
A therapy session lasts 60 minutes. The number of sessions required varies considerably and depends on the severity and type of the problem. For example, a person who survived a sudden trauma i.e. a car accident, but that otherwise had functioned well in life until then, could be treated within 3 to 5 sessions. In more complex cases where there are multiple traumatic experiences therapy will be much longer. However it is expected that the client will feel noticeable benefits early on in the therapy.
Family Therapy
This is a type of therapy involving the family unit. Family life should be a joy and fun for children and parents. However, sometimes families can get into unhelpful patterns for all sorts of reasons and they may need professional support to overcome difficulties. Family therapy can help family members to collaborate together to change problems they may be stuck with. The meetings may involve the whole family or at times sessions with parents only and children only. The family therapy work can last between 1 to 7 sessions depending on the goals established by each family.
EMDR and Hypnosis is practiced by Soraia Crystal
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