EMDR is sorta like defragmenting your brain instead of your hard drive. When we experience things they get filed away in our memory. Sometimes they get filed far far away and we don't seem to remember them. Really they are there, but we seem to have lost access to them. Also certain events and memories can get fused with other memories, making connections that seem the most logical to your brain.
For example, when I was little.. I loved my grandmother. We had a dog that I loved. She had to be put to sleep. We got a new dog named after the old one. My grandmother got cancer and passed away when I was 15. A few years later the dog got cancer and had to be put down. I was upset and driving from the vets office. I was speeding. I got pulled over and my license was suspended. From that day on I had a horrible fear of driving. I didn't know why, I only knew I was terrified of it. Years later I was able to finally make the connection. My grandmother was my safety and security. My dog resembled that. After my grandmother died, the dog was my link to that security and safety. After the dog died, and I immediatly got pulled over.. to my brain, it was *because* my safety was gone.. I felt unsafe. Because my dog was no longer here, because my grandmother was no longer alive, I was not safe to drive. And Look! See! Its true! I got pulled over!.. And thats how my brain filed it away. So everytime I got into a car, behind the wheel.. I would feel pain, loss, scared, insecure, inadequate ...and yet not really know *why* I was feeling those things. Because it doesn't seem to make sense. But your brain is always analyzing and trying to make connections. Its how people remember things and learn, by making connections. So mine made the most logical choice it could, unfortunaly it wasn't accurate. I still have problems driving, but at least I know the fear that I need to concur now. I know the connections that I remembered are wrong, and I can understand why the panic sets in. When I get into the car I do a very simple excersize. I cross my arms over my chest, hands on opposite shoulders. I alternate lightly tapping on my shoulders. Left right, left right. While I do that, I say affirming things. "I am safe. I am okay. I will drive safely. I am a competant driver. I can do this."
The theory behind EMDR is that while you sleep your right brain and left brain connect. Rapid eye movement is proof of the "left, right" thing that goes on while you sleep. Somehow, that is tied in with how we remember and file things away. So EMDR uses sound or physical tapping, and alternates on the right or left side of your body (or in headphones if its sound) While that happens the therapist talks to you about whatever situation you are trying to change. You may use aggreed upon imagery in your head, or key words that will help you to recall events that you need to "re file" in your head.
A lot of fears and phobias and other things stem from simple filing problems and can be helped a lot with EMDR. It has been proven useful to me and a few others that I know.
No one really knows why EMDR seems to work beyond the theories, but it does! I hope that information helps you.
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