EMDR Therapy and Attachment focussed EMDR
Since its inception by American, Joy Shapiro, in the 1980’s, EMDR has been helping people conquer symptoms associated with trauma, and is now recommended by N.I.C.E. to treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. While it has been widely used by therapists with great success for many years now, the original model has been adjusted so that this powerful healing tool can now help more people with the many complicated realities that life tends to throw our way. of our lives.
Attachment Focussed EMDR tackles the foundations of our ability to feel safe in relationships and in the world.
Standard EMDR - Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing - is a psychotherapy method that allows people to heal from traumatic life experiences that manifest in troubling symptoms like nightmares, flashbacks, avoidance, withdrawal and difficulty in relationships.
It requires therapists to use bilateral sensory input, like eye movement or tapping, while processing painful images. EMDR helps people recall and process memories so that they no longer hold the same emotional charge. Once the memory is processed and integrated, it can be held like other memories and not fragmented into pieces that intrude into the present. The memory can become less threatening and evoke less psychological arousal. The new associations result in new learning that develops cognitive awareness.
Attachment-Focused Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (AF-EMDR) uses a modified protocol that focuses on the attachments people form with parental figures during childhood.
Dr. Laurel Parnell created AF-EMDR after integrating the latest research on attachment theory and the use of EMDR. AF-EMDR addresses the effects of neglect and abuse on the developing brain and how it manifests in various attachment styles. The model intends to heal early attachment wounds.
AF-EMDR is designed to heal relational trauma and it can especially help those who have insecure attachment styles and relational trauma. This type of trauma can include sexual or physical abuse, neglect, parental misattunement, betrayal or having parents with drug or alcohol abuse problems or mental illness.