Online: Eye Movement, Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) CPD

Course Tutor: Paul Henderson BSc Psychology. FACCPH, MNCP (Snr. Accred.), Author

Eye Movement, Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a fascinating and extremely powerful intervention, designed primarily for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) – though it can be used with various other issues.

This Continuous Professional Development online course is designed to give counsellors, therapists and people simply interested in the treatment of trauma, an insight into EMDR. Full course details and information are given below.

Cost £49

You will have 180 days to complete the course from your enrolment date. The online course constitues 20 CPD hours

Need help? See videos at the bottom of this page or Email: support@ukait.org

EMDR History

In 1987 psychologist Francine Shapiro developed a new type of psychotherapy known as EMDR: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. EMDR has become more common in recent years, especially for people suffering with anxiety, panic, PTSD, or trauma.

According to the EMDR Research Foundation, “EMDR is an integrative psychotherapy approach that has been extensively researched and proven effective for the treatment of trauma. EMDR therapy includes a set of standardized protocols that incorporate elements from many different treatment approaches. To date, EMDR has helped millions of people of all ages relieve many types of psychological stress.”

What is EMDR?

EMDR therapy is a phased, focused approach to treating trauma and other issues. It reconnects a client to images, thoughts, emotions, and body sensations associated with the trauma, allowing the natural healing powers of the brain to move towards an adaptive resolution. It is based on the idea that symptoms occur when trauma and other negative or challenging experiences overwhelm the brain’s natural ability to heal. EMDR facilitates this healing process using bilateral stimulation. BLS is used while the client is re-experiencing a past trauma. This is carried out in the safe environment of the therapist’s office (dual awareness).

Dr. Romas Buivydas, PhD, LMHC, Vice President of Clinical Development for Spectrum Health Systems says, EMDR therapy is an eight-phase treatment. “It identifies and addresses traumatic experiences that have overwhelmed the brain’s natural coping capacity, and, as a result, have created traumatic symptoms, such as flashbacks or anxiety, or harmful coping strategies, such as isolating behaviour or self-medication with alcohol or drugs.”

Traumatic experiences can derail your life unless you have a way to process the event. EMDR Therapy helps you work through these difficult feelings and gets you back on the right track. The developer of this approach to trauma treatment, Francine Shapiro, says that we all have an innate capacity to process information and learn from all experiences, even difficult ones. She calls this process Adaptive Information Processing model. However, trauma can interrupt this natural process and can lead to distressing symptoms unless you have an opportunity to process the emotions and memories related to the event.

How Does EMDR Work?

In order to better understand this process, we turn our attention to the way that memories are stored in the brain as a form of neural networks. A neural network is a group of interconnected brain cells (neurons) that fire together. Traumatic memories are maintained as maladaptive neural networks that result in a limited ability to adapt, process, and resolve traumatic stress. You can think of this like a record that has a scratch in it. The needle will skip on that spot repeatedly unless we intervene. (If you were born after record players went out of use, you can think of a CD that keeps getting stuck in the same spot).

“EMDR Therapy changes maladaptive neural networks by connecting the traumatic memory with new information. The distressing thoughts and emotions are blended with new positive thoughts and emotions; embodied awareness allows frozen sensations in the body to resolve through healing movements.”
-Arielle Schwartz

Neural Networks and Trauma

Every time we learn a new behaviour we create a new neural network. Frequent repetitions of the behaviour strengthen that neural network through myelination of the nerve pathways which allow the signals to move quickly and smoothly. You can think of this process like the act of learning to ride a bike or playing a piece of music. The more time spent practicing, the easier it becomes.

All memories are patterns of neural networks. One neural network can be connected to other neural networks when a behaviour or memory has similar elements to other events or experiences. For example, smells, taste, images, touch, sounds, thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, beliefs and participants that are similar to previous events can initiate a connection between neural networks of memories.

Ideally, the neural networks of our memories connect across various areas of the brain. For example, the right hemisphere of the brain is more likely to hold our negative perceptions and emotions about our experiences of memories. In contrast, the left hemisphere is specialized for positive emotions. Neural networks that communicate across left and right hemispheres of the brain helps us express feelings with words and integrate positive and negative perceptions of emotions. Additionally, integration of neural networks between upper brain centres (neocortex) and lower brain centres (limbic system and brain stem) helps with managing impulses and developing greater self-control.

Traumatic memories can be thought of as impaired encoding of neural networks. These memories are not integrated with other positive experiences and are limited in their ability to accommodate new information. This disconnection impairs one’s ability to be emotionally flexible or cognitively constructive while thinking about difficult life events.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a fascinating and powerful intervention used primarily for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This CPD is comprised of several video recordings of a live training day, plus an extremely revealing reconstruction of a true life case.

Who Uses EMDR Therapy?

EMDR therapy has been endorsed by the American Psychiatric Association and the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. In addition, it is used by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defence and overseas organizations, including the United Kingdom Department of Health and the Israeli National Council for Mental Health.

According to the EMDR Research Foundation there are now over 30 gold standard studies documenting the effectiveness of EMDR therapy over the past 30 years with problems such as rape and sexual abuse, combat trauma, childhood trauma and neglect, life threatening accidents, and symptoms such as anxiety, depression, and substance abuse.

Edy Nathan, MA, LCSW, is a licensed psychotherapist with over 20 years experience and has been certified as an EMDR practitioner, believes that this type of therapy has the ability to heal people who are suffering from all types of trauma. “What the technique does is shift the way we process the presence of the physical, emotional and psychological effects related specifically to a traumatic event,” she said. “The pain and sense of danger carried within the self after a traumatic event grips the soul with such purchase that it leads into a sense of being in emotional quicksand. EMDR works to disarm belief systems, also known as cognitions, and changes the negative cognition through a series of lateral eye movements, tapping or sound, while the client is asked to create the picture of pain and danger (trauma) that most disturbs them.”

Does EMDR Therapy Actually Work?

According to the EMDR Institute, Inc., some of the studies on this type of therapy show that 84%-90% of single-trauma victims no longer have post-traumatic stress disorder after only three 90-minute sessions. Another study, funded by the HMO Kaiser Permanente, found that 100% of the single-trauma victims and 77% of multiple trauma victims no longer were diagnosed with PTSD after only six 50-minute sessions. In another study, 77% of combat veterans were free of PTSD in 12 sessions.

What is also different about this type of therapeutic intervention is that the therapist does not conversationally converse with the client while going through the process. After an EMDR session, clients can experience more vivid dreams, may sleep differently, might feel more sensitive to interactions with others or to external stimuli. This is all shared with the client at the end of each EMDR session.

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Accreditation:

Continuous Professional Development Course (20 hours)

Approved by Accredited Counsellors, Coaches, Psychotherapists and Hypnotherapists

Cost: £59

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N.B. This course is NOT accredited by or associated with EMDR Europe or EMDRIA. This course does not make you eligible to join the EMDR Association, the EMDRIA, or to become an EMDR Europe practitioner. It is independently approved by the ACCPH

Course Structure

The course is relayed via several recorded classroom sessions, plus other supporting videos. There is also an insightful reconstruction of a true-life case, carried out by therapists Paul Henderson and Nick Buchanan. In addition, there are written theoretical modules,

Course Curriculum

What We Mean by EMDR

Introduction

A Close Look at EMDR

A Brief History of EMDR and the Theory Behind It

How EMDR Works

EMDR and the AIP Model

A Look at Bilateral Stimulation

Disorders Treated by EMDR Therapy

Treatment for Trauma and PTSD

EMDR and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

The Eight Phases of EMDR

Phases One and Two of EMDR – History-Taking and Preparation

Part 1: History-Taking

Part 2: Prepare for Therapy

Part 3: Self-Supporting Techniques and Tools

Phase Three of EMDR – Assessment

Part 1: Choose a Memory to Target

Part 2: Identifying Negative Cognitions (NC) and Identifying Positive Cognitions (PC)

Part 3: The Subjective Units of Disturbance (SUD) Scale

Part 4: The Validity of Cognition (VOC) Scale

Phases Four and Five of EMDR – Reprocessing and Reprogramming

Installing Positive Thoughts

Different Forms of Bilateral Stimulation

Tapping in with the Butterfly Hug

Installing the Positive Cognition

Phases Six, Seven and Eight of EMDR – Body Scan, Closure and Re-Evaluation

Phases Six to Eight

The Process of Body Scanning

Achieving Closure

Re-Evaluate to Check Success

Please note: This is not a practitioner level training course. EMDR is a highly specialised therapeutic modality. If you want to practise it, you must be a trained and experienced therapist. If you enjoy this CPD and want to train as a practitioner of EMDR, please visit: https://alc2alc.com/eye-movement-desensitisation-and-reprocessing-emdr-level-3-diploma/

If you wish to enrol on the course, simply click the ‘Take this Course‘ button and you will be directed to registration and payment. Once you have registered and made payment, you will be logged in and directed to your profile page, which contains the links to your course(s). You can do the course at your own pace and in your own time.

You will use the email address and password you created at registration as your login credentials for all sunsequent access, so please make a note of them. Login page is: https://alc2alc.com/course-login/

Welcome from course director: Paul Henderson BSC. FACCPH