What is Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy?
What is EMDR Therapy? The importance of having an expert psychologist in the neuroprocessing of trauma
This Article is Written and Sponsored by TECH Technological University
The Professional Master’s Degree Clinical Hypnosis and Relaxation of TECH teach different techniques such as Bilateral Stimulation for desensitization and reprocessing of traumas.
People have an innate information processing system, which is physiologically oriented to process information to make it adaptive, and which has been stored in the form of memories throughout life. Memories are stored in associative memory networks and are the basis of perception, attitudes, and behaviors, also the experience of a traumatic event causes a disruption in the normal processing system and can generate dysfunctional storage. Considering this, the Professional Master’s Degree Clinical Hypnosis and Relaxation present the Bilateral Stimulation or EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing).
It is a method of psychotherapy that has proven to be effective in recovering from trauma or distressing experiences when there are associated disorders such as anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress, and it is a therapy endorsed by the World Health Organization, the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, and by many researchers in the scientific community. Considering this, when a person experiences trauma, their body produces elevated levels of adrenaline and other neurochemicals affecting brain activity.
Thus, the rational side disconnects from the emotional side, making it difficult to process the trauma through cognitive mechanisms. Memories are normally found in the hippocampus, since it is the area that registers more activity during the processing of emotions, but when it comes to memories associated with shocking events, they are installed in the cerebral amygdala and frontal cortex, two areas related to cognition and memory modulation, since it interprets that this information is vital for survival.
What is EMDR therapy?
Bearing in mind the above, traumatic experiences cannot exert a negative influence on the brain, which triggers post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the brain regions that may be affected by this are:
· Hippocampus: It is the center of emotions and memory.
· Cerebral amygdala: Increases its activity. It is the area of the brain in charge of capturing stimuli and processing information.
· Prefrontal/anterior cingulate region: Decreases its activity. It is the center of complex functions such as planning and self-development.
For that reason, it is necessary to have a duly trained and licensed professionals to implement this therapy which consist in using adaptive information processing to access and unlock those memories, thus allowing the nervous system to finally integrate them. Within these procedures, one of the elements used is eye movement or other forms of bilateral brain stimulation. Bilateral stimulation can be:
· Visual: The patient moves the eyes from one side to the other guided by the therapist.
· Auditory: The person listens to sounds alternately in both ears.
· Kinesthetic: The therapist taps alternately on the patient's hands.
In summary, the information processing model of Bilateral Stimulation aims to access information by connecting the consciousness to the point where the information is stored in dysfunctional mode, stimulates the information processing system, and shifts the information towards an adaptive resolution: proper and positive. Also, it can be used as a one-time intervention integrated into verbal psychotherapy, as an added therapy with a different therapist, or as a treatment.
Professional Master’s Degree in Clinical Hypnosis and Relaxation
The Professional Master’s Degree Clinical Hypnosis and Relaxation of TECH is developed entirely online, during the 12 months of training, the student has access to the program's contents at any time and from any device, allowing them to self-manage the study time with maximum flexibility and adapt to each student's schedule.
On the other hand, the institution considered it important to incorporate a program focused on clinical hypnosis as an instrument with which we can connect with the subcortical structures to change traumatic memories or affect planes far from the will, and from there be able to affect pain, anxiety, and other moods.
In this way, the contents deal in dept in latest advances in Clinical Hypnosis, mental relaxation, psychoneuroimmunology, neurology and biochemistry of the hypnotic state, techniques for emotional processing in therapy, mental disorders, mindfulness, among others.
TECH Technological University
TECH Technological University, the world's largest university, is also the official online university of the NBA (National Basketball Association) in Latin America. It belongs to the TECH educational group, a Spanish-owned multinational recognized by the Financial Times as one of the 200 fastest-growing companies in Europe. The company, founded and directed by Manuel Sánchez-Cascado de Fuentes, has also been considered the most highly valued Spanish technology company in the last 15 years.
Thanks to its fully digital learning system, it supplies training to students from anywhere in the world. An international trajectory has allowed it to become a benchmark in distance learning, with a catalogue of over 10,000 programs, over 100,000 new students each year, and 500,000 graduates from over 150 countries.
Specialized in highly qualified postgraduate programs, they offer their students the best training programs at an international level, being leaders in employability with 99% of their students working in the first twelve months, according to data from the consulting firm KPMG.