EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) therapy is a powerful and effective psychological treatment. EMDR is included as a recommended therapy in the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines for treating trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

EMDR therapy is now being used to successfully treat a wide range of conditions such as depression, complicated grief, phobias and difficulties of self-regulation such as panic attacks and addiction. It is a recognised as a fast approach to bringing about lasting change. The focus of EMDR is not on analysing symptoms, nor on learning to manage them, but on removing a person’s vulnerability to whatever triggers the symptoms.

EMDR essentially does two very important things; “unlocks” the negative memories and emotions stored in the nervous system, and helps the brain successfully process the experience.

Depending on what brings you to therapy, I can work with you using EMDR alone, or we can decide to integrate EMDR with a more traditional ‘talking and exploring’ therapy.

Training to practise EMDR is restricted to fully qualified mental health professionals.  In the UK, the training is overseen by the EMDR Association U.K. which sets the standards for training organisations, trainees and qualified EMDR therapists.

For more information on EMDR, please click here and here

Watch the following to learn more about EMDR and the working memory:

You can listen to a BBC Radio 4 interview with an EMDR client here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p04jyv3y