Does EMDR work on PTSD?

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy has been gaining credibility over the past 30 years within the health community showing clinical evidences, brain imaging before and after treatment, as well as 30 gold standard studies documenting the effectiveness of EMDR in resolving PTSD.  Most studies are done on single incident traumas though through other therapeutic interventions complex PTSD can be resolved though through longer period of therapy.

EMDR approaches issues using numerous modalities that have already existed in conjunction with eye movements, alternating tapping and/or tones.  Through a patient’s own rapid eye movement which is guided by the clinician significantly reduces the emotional upset from disturbing memories of traumatic events.

Ongoing EMDR studies

According to the EMDR Research Foundation and 30 gold standard studies have documented the resolution of PTSD of those who have suffered from sexual abuse including rape, childhood neglect and trauma, life threatening accidents, various tragedies and disasters, combat trauma, and resolving anxieties, depression, and various addictions.

Uniqueness of EMDR

Unlike the majority of other psychotherapies EMDR does not involve conversation while eye movements or bilateral stimulation is being utilized.  After a session of EMDR that involves eye movements a client may experience being more sensitive to external stimuli including interactions with other people.  A person may have more vivid dreams and may experience sleep in a different manner.  Over time of having EMDR sessions where eye movement is used a person will progressively feel better.  Single incident traumas are generally resolved much quicker than those who wish to resolve pervasive trauma.

Written by: James A. Miklos, M.C.C., R.P. -   James has been counselling,  providing mental health therapy for over 30 years, is a public speaker and writer.

© 2019 James A. Miklos. All rights reserved.  To copy or quote any of this material this entire citation and credit must be posted.

Research & Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5904704/

https://emdrresearchfoundation.org/research-grants/researchers-resource-directory/#1517889857437-32b27c2e-b755

https://www.emdrhap.org/content/what-is-emdr/research-findings/

https://www.psycom.net/emdr-therapy-anxiety-panic-ptsd-trauma/

https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/emdr-what-is-it#1

When someone experiences trauma it can mean having difficulty in forming and maintaining healthy relationships with others.  It is common that a person who has experienced trauma can experience any or all of these:

• Difficulty going to sleep at night
• Difficulty staying asleep at night, often waking up one or more times throughout the night
• Re-experiencing terrifying memories
• Flashbacks
• Nightmares or night terrors
• Emotional numbness
• Emotionally disconnected from others
• Difficulty trusting people
• Difficulty in recovering or normalizing after an upsetting event
• Obsessive thinking
• A racing mind

Trauma can be more broadly understood as an adverse life event

Adverse life experiences or events can include both violations and voids.

Violations are those events that significantly impacted your life where someone or something inflicted or imposed something upon you.  This can be whether you only witnessed it or it directly happened to you.

Voids are those things that should have happened to you, things that you should have had but didn’t.  Adverse life events or experiences that involves voids in one’s life can include (things you should have had growing up):

• Healthy nurturing touch
• Food
• Shelter
• Clothing
• Parents that loved and cared for you and significantly met your physical, social, emotional and intellectual needs.
• Where there has been lack there has been an adverse life experience that has altered your life whether knowingly or not.

Developmental Issues

Both Developmental and Trauma issues are considered adverse life experiences.  Often people can understand traumatic events more than developmental trauma.  Developmental issues or trauma involve the type of attachment you developed from your primary care givers.  Since this issue takes a little more knowledge to understand it is often not recognized by us because we have normalized it.

Attachment styles developed in childhood

These attachment styles are a result of parental emotional connection, lack thereof, and frightening or unpredictable behaviour.  Attachment theory, according to Bowlby and Ainsworth, tells us that the first 18 months of a child’s life is critical to the quality of attachments made with the primary caregiver.  The quality of attachment or lack of it starts with instinctual behaviours such as clinging and crying, and also how the parent reacts to their child (Kennedy & Kennedy, 2004).  Dr. Daniel Siegel has been doing some valuable research in this area with respect to child and adult attachment.  Below are some noted attachment styles developed in childhood and then the following list shows the personality style manifested in adulthood.

• Secure Attachment 
• Avoidant Attachment 
• Ambivalent/Anxious Attachment 
• Disorganized Attachment

In adulthood attachment can be understood as:

• Secure Personality
• Dismissive Personality
• Preoccupied Personality
• Fearful-Avoidant Personality

In another article I will further explore these styles but for now I wanted to simply make mention of these to give some further curiosity and clarity as to what can help make up developmental trauma (issues).

When someone comes in to see me for therapy I like to explain adverse life events in this manner, there are two sides – the developmental side and the trauma side.  The developmental side I already briefly explained above.  The trauma side of adverse life experiences can include events that have happened to you that were major, as in a capital ’T’ trauma, and as smaller types of trauma, as in a small ’t’ trauma.  Plus, we need to consider, was the trauma a single incident, repeated, or was it pervasive in occurrence?  All of these considerations are important because when you understand what happened to you and how it impacted you then you can begin your journey to healing.  Without recognizing what impacted you, and how it impacted you, it is nearly impossible to resolve your issues.

For example, a capital ’T’ trauma could include:  sexual abuse, natural disaster, violence, murder, and the like.  Where a small ’t’ trauma could include bullying, pain during a medical or dental procedure, verbal abuse.  Sometimes we see things that have happened to us as ‘not that big of a deal’.  When anything is pervasive or repeated more than once it is considered a capital ’T’ trauma.  

All adverse life experiences, added up, can create in our lives numerous problems.  The long and complicated list of such problems are too numerous to list.  The good news is that through good therapy you can resolve these issues and heal your soul.

Yes, you can heal.  Therapy is a journey even though we would like it to be purely a destination.  Patience in the process is critical.  You didn’t develop your issues over night.  Often they are the result of years of unresolved issues.

There are a number of therapies that need to be considered for this process of healing your trauma(s) and developmental and attachment issues.  Some of the following therapies or processes have helped many people recover:

• EMDR
• BRAIN HEALTH THERAPY
• EMOTIONAL FREEDOM TECHNIQUES
• HOMEOPATHY
• HEART COHERENCE
• PYSCHOSOMATIC ENERGETICS
• FRASER’S DISSOCIATIVE TABLE TECHNIQUE

Changing how you feel is important because that is how you are energized, motivated, and the quality of life you live in.  Start taking some good healthy steps today.  Book your appointment today and get started on your healing journey!

Robert Plutchik theory. 22 October 2017. Wiki Media Commons.

Basic emotions

There are numerous theories as to how many basic emotions we have such as: theory by Paul Ekman, The James-Lange Theory of Emotion, The Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion, Schachter-Singer Theory, Richard Lazarus’ Cognitive Appraisal Theory, and others.

Basic emotions are the building blocks of more complex experience of emotions.  It is very difficult to define definitively the ‘gospel truth’ of emotions but we can identify them in a manner that can help us to better understand what it is that we are feeling and also what healthy emotions can possibly look like.

We can look at emotions in opposites, much like an antonym in vocabulary, or as in a colour wheel, or even in temperature such as hot and cold.  We often refer to these opposites as positive and negative emotions.  A friend and colleague of mine, Katie O’Shea renamed these as Connective and Life Enhancing Emotions and Protective and Life Preserving Emotions.  

Protective Emotions

Shame and Guilt

Shame and guilt though similar are different but can fit into the same category.  This emotion brings to our attention when we have or others have done something harmful.  This emotion can work for us even before we have done something we should not have done, it can show us ahead of time that by doing a certain behaviour we can bring harm to someone either emotionally or physically.  Often this emotion is referred to as a part of our conscience.  This emotion brings to our attention behavioural changes we need to make.  When we are skewed in our emotions that is when we need help.  Guilt and shame when felt too much we feel as though we were bad versus our behaviour was bad.  Some of what we feel with this emotion includes morals which sits in spirituality or religious beliefs.

Self-Pity

When we didn’t do anything wrong but something harmful has happened to us we need to feel sorry for ourselves.  As the saying goes, lick your own wounds, we may need to do so in order to pay attention to how we have been hurt and what we need to pay attention to so that we can tend to ourselves and receive the healing, rest and emotional nourishment that we need.  Where self-pity is unhealthy is when a person gets stuck in this feeling and continues to play the victim.  Don’t pay attention to those who may say, “Don’t feel sorry for yourself”, as this may prolong your wound.  Paying healthy attention to a physical wound is important so physical infection does not settle in so it is with emotional wounds.  If you push emotions away they will stay and not heal.  Pay attention to those emotions and care for yourself giving yourself what is healthy and needful.

Disgust

Understanding disgust is when we are repulsed where we react to eliminating something from us that is toxic, poisonous or dangerous.  Disgust can be experienced when we taste something that is experienced as repulsive and we spit it out and withdraw from that thing.  We can experience this when someone does something that is morally depraved or what we call “sick” or a food that is rotten, or a puss that might be oozing out.  Disgust is experienced when we quickly feel the need to remove ourselves from that experience or behaviour.  We need to pay attention to this feeling as it tells us when we need to remove ourselves from that situation or people otherwise we will become like them in some manner.

Fear

Fear lets us know when we are in danger.  Not all fear is a correct assessment of the situation but healthy fear we can see in the example when a person is standing on the edge of a building 10 stories up and they know that to take a step off of the building that they will fall and die.  Healthy fear also understands that jumping in front of a moving train will kill them.  Unhealthy fear is when we experience some form of this emotion when there is no danger present.  Fear gives us the energy to respond to a danger that is present whether emotional or physical, usually this response is a flight response.

Anger

Anger gives us the energy to fight when faced with a danger whether emotional or physical.  Again, this emotional response may not be correct due to incorrect perceptions of the brain.  On the scale of 0-10 when we experience a 5 or more we reject the person rather than the deed and when it is under a 5 we reject the deed rather than the person.  Anger has different intensities from annoyance to wrathful hatred.  Anger can be expressed through bodily expressions, facial, tone of voice, volume of voice as well as words chosen to be expressed.  Anger has been referred to as a secondary emotion because it is an emotions that fights to regain power, for example I am angry because I was afraid, much like a fearful dog cornered becomes vicious.  

Sadness and Grief

Sadness and grief show us that we have lost something or someone that is valuable to us.  The more important that person or thing was to us the more intense the sadness.  Healthy sadness and grief come when we embrace the feelings versus try and push them away.  We need to reflect on the wound of loss once embraced we should be able experience gratitude because we are noticing the good that we once had either in a relationship or a thing such as a job.  Sadness can also show us that we need to love and appreciate the relationships we make and have as well as respecting things that we have.  Complicated grief arises when childhood attachments and connections were not of good quality.  

Negative emotions or feelings can be helpful when we need to protect our life from danger but when they are working at the wrong time then our life can become troublesome.  When we ask, “Why am I feeling this way?”  “Can I ever feel different?”  “Is there any hope of me feeling better?”  The answer is yes.  There is no magic wand or special pill but there are clinical and therapeutic ways that can help us regain our life.  Check out some of the therapies below that can help you.

>> EMDR Therapy

>> Homeopathy 

At New Hope Counselling Centre we can help you to improve your emotional state, marriage, healthy living, bringing you hope for a better tomorrow.  Call us today!

Serving Burlington, Hamilton, Oakville, Milton, Mississauga, St. Catharines and surrounding areas.

Are you looking for alternative approaches to resolving or enhancing your mental health?  More and more people are seeking a more holistic and natural approach to mental health.  According to the Fraser Institute in 2016 they stated that 79% of Canadians have used at least one alternative therapy sometime in their lives.

Many issues can be addressed to some degree using talk therapy styles (counselling) to remedy emotional and relational struggles, but all too often talk is not enough.  Through a couple of decades of practice the best clinical results occur when both talk type of therapy and (CAM) Complimentary and Alternative Medicine approaches are utilized.  A combination of numerous approaches proves to show the best results in helping to resolve mental health issues.

Clinical experience for us has shown that the best approach to resolving relationship issues, adult attachment issues, anxiety, panic attacks, depression, PTSD, grief, and many other issues is to approach therapy and counselling from a two-pronged approach.  Using EMDR and Homeopathy.

EMDR Approach

EMDR (Eye Movement and Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a therapy that stimulates the two hemispheres of the brain which facilitates and accelerates the relearning of emotionally adverse and traumatic events. This bilateral stimulation of the brain done through an 8 phase process resolves the majority of a person’s issues given within the adverse life event(s).  It is said to be an AIP model, Accelerated Information Processing.  This moves past traditional talk therapy because of its speed in brain processing.  This may not be right for everyone but once a person is prepared it is marvellous in its lasting results.

SPECT imaging and fMRI results of EMDR have been documented to show the radical and effective changes it does to the brain and ultimately the person’s life.

Homeopathic Approach

From a natural holistic, CAM, approach emotions and feelings can be both regulated as well as processed to bring healing and resolution.  Within nature there are powerful means by which we can help shift mood, balance hormones, and shift the electrical aspects of the brain and nervous system.

Through clinical practice it has been evidenced that those that have utilized both EMDR and a naturopathic approach to treatment have successfully resolved their issues.  Some of these issues are both physiological and in nature such as:  anxiety, IBD issues, PTSD, depression and anger, liver and bile flow issues, lung and fear issues, ADHD and brain and nervous system function, and much more.

Other effective therapies provided

• Emotional Freedom Techniques 
• Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
• Psychosomatic Energetics
• Psycho Dynamic 
• And much more

The CAM or holistic natural approach to resolving relational, mental, and emotional issues proves to be very effective in healing and bringing resolution to the spirit, mind, body, and relationships.

Issues addressed

Resolving your mental health issues is a must because it will not only hinder your quality of life ly and emotionally but also it will eventually impair your physical health. Some medical doctors have stated that unresolved emotional issues are at the root of 70-95% of all chronic illnesses and degenerative diseases.   These unresolved emotional issues and mental illnesses often have their root cause in such abuses and traumas as: 

• sexual assault and abuse
• physical assault 
• verbal and emotional abuse
• monetary abuse
• neglect in childhood
• medical or dental trauma

We offer individual therapy and counselling to people in person as well as though distance counselling.  We are here for the Oakville, Ontario community for in person, face to face counselling or through distance counselling methods using Skype or FaceTime.  We have aided many from Oakville, Ontario with lasting results.  

Our physical office is but a short drive from Oakville to our office in Burlington you will find it worth the drive. If you only interested in relief to help you feel better we can do that for you.  If you desire to dig deeper and resolve your issues from the roots on up we can do that for you as well.  Call today or book online which ever is the most convenient for you.

Emergency wards in hospitals at times are occupied by those who think they are having a heart attack, intestinal issues, severe abdominal pains, or even a stroke when in actuality they are having a panic attack. PTSD can be debilitating if not treated immediately. Curing PTSD is more important than masking it. Yes, curing Post-traumatic stress can be a reality for you!

How does Post-traumatic Stress Disorder develop?

Post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD develops when a shocking, upsetting, or terrifying event occurs that you have witnessed, personally experienced, or indirectly experienced by learning about about a close friend or family member that experienced trauma. Any of these experiences that alters the way you feel and look at life can be understood as an individual that has developed PTSD. After the disturbing or terrifying event has occurred there is an onset of a number of symptoms that begin to occur some of which were listed previously.

What can cause post traumatic stress disorder?

Anyone at any age can get PTSD. This can include a child crying in a crib for longer than 15 minutes left unattended, childhood physical and emotional neglect, children witnessing parents arguing or physical abuse, witnessing frightening scenes even on television, repetitive startling sounds like someone bursting out in rage, bullying, physical fights, war combat, physical assault such as muggings, partner brutality, parental brutality, sexual abuse or assault, unexpected death of a loved one, vehicle accidents, natural disasters, dental or medical trauma such as procedures gone wrong or waking up in the middle of a procedure, or a degenerative illness. The list can be long but to understand what can cause PTSD is individual specific. If the incident witnessed or experienced is shocking, terrifying, upsetting or surreal then it is quite probable that it will cause PTSD.

Who can get PTSD?

Anyone can get Post-traumatic Stress Disorder of any age, any gender, any walk of life. PTSD is not like a transmittable disease through organisms like a virus or bacterial infection rather it develops in the brain when upsetting events occur. PTSD occurs when the brain does not know how to handle the shock of the trauma therefore it stores it in a dysfunctional way which then causes regular disruptions in our daily living even when there is no threat of danger present.

How long does post traumatic stress disorder last for?

Post-traumatic stress disorder can last for the entirety of a person’s life unless otherwise treated. There are some instances that people have been successful to find the support they need to be able to begin to heal where most others dissociate. To dissociate can be better understood as a disconnect from the upsetting event, possibly to the point where they can develop an amnesia. Disconnection is not to be considered a resolution rather the traumatic incident is avoided by the conscious mind so as not to re-experience the disturbing feelings that accompany the memory(s). When a person develops PTSD a form of dissociation also forms within. This however may not mean that it becomes a diagnosable disorder. Our unconscious mind forms a dissociation in order to “protect” us from feeling disturbing emotions, avoiding the emotions that are most upsetting to us.

PTSD can be short lived if addressed sooner rather than later. After 6 months of the incident occurring the brain then stores the information into another part where long term memory is kept as Episodic Memory, but where there is PTSD it can be stored as Implicit memory which can be problematic to the individual. It is generally easier to have the brain process the disturbing event prior to the end of the 6 month anniversary.

How does post traumatic stress disorder effect your everyday life?

PTSD effects peoples everyday lives by altering their mood, their emotional reactions, the choices that they now make. Post-traumatic stress effects your mental health, physical health, your work, and your relationships.

What is complex PTSD?

Simple PTSD can be defined as a single traumatic incident. Complex Post-traumatic Stress Disorder or C-PTSD is a result of prolonged trauma that is continuous in nature and repetitive that involves the individual’s constant exposure to harm, childhood caregiver abandonment, where there is an uneven dynamic of power.

Complex PTSD can occur because of any of the following criteria that has occurred in your life repeatedly:

• When there has been more than one traumatic event that you have witnessed and/or experienced

• When there is a history of poor attachment in childhood with the parents

• Where threat happens repeatedly.

When there has been developmental issues that have occurred in the family of origin that destabilizes a child and causes the child to be less resilient to disturbing events in life so that when traumatic events occur it complicates the PTSD.

Is post-traumatic stress curable?

Yes, absolutely yes! PTSD is totally curable even in its complex forms. For the cure to take place there needs to be continuous therapy with a therapist that knows and understands PTSD. They need to be a trauma specialist to help you resolve these issues. It takes work, dedication, diligence, and honesty to resolve PTSD.

What is the best way to treat PTSD?

It is more about understanding the nature of PTSD, how to approach it and how to position a person’s brain to reprocess this “stuck” material. At New Hope Counselling Centre we have therapists, counsellors and psychotherapists that know how to help you.  James Miklos, MCC, R.P. director and therapist is a trauma specialist who has helped numerous people heal from PTSD even in its most complex of forms.

Serving Burlington, Hamilton, Oakville, Milton, Mississauga, St. Catharines and surrounding areas.