EMDR

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Permalink Reply by Michael Ellner on May 3, 2010 at 6:55am

FYI--

EMDR and Mesmerism: A Comparative Historical Analysis - HypnoThoughts.com
http://www.hypnothoughts.com/forum/topics/emdr-and-mesmerism-a?page...

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Permalink Reply by John R. Brochu on May 3, 2010 at 12:06pm

Michael:

Great resource –Thanks-

Yours in Health,
John Brochu
BrochuHypnosisCenter.com

Michael Ellner said:

FYI--

EMDR and Mesmerism: A Comparative Historical Analysis - HypnoThoughts.com
http://www.hypnothoughts.com/forum/topics/emdr-and-mesmerism-a?page...

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Permalink Reply by Kathleen Hanover on May 6, 2010 at 6:07am

I used EMDR a number of years ago to help get over a trauma and it was remarkably effective. The psychologist administering it was also good at hypnosis (she was the first person to hypnotize me) so I imagine she used whichever methodology she thought would be most effective, and she chose EMDR.

It was interesting...I understand when EMDR was first developed, it was visual (you watched a light move back and forth). In my case, the psychologist used a little box that generated tones that I listened to on a headset. The tones alternated between one ear and the other, activating one side of the brain or the other. It was pretty interesting, in addition to being effective, at least for me.


Kathleen
Still just a client

John R. Brochu said:

Joseph:


I see no advantage that EMDR would hold over hypnosis. I have had the opportunity to study with EMDR practitioners and I have not seen the value in it.

John Brochu
BrochuHypnosisCenter.com

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Permalink Reply by James Hazlerig - HypnosisAustin on May 6, 2010 at 6:54am

Besides the eye following a finger or a light method and the sounds in alternate ears method, EMDR also includes the gently tapping alternate knees/thighs with a light paddle method. All involve stimulating alternate sides of the brain, imho.

Peter Brown, MD, in The Hypnotic Brain talks about how stimulating one side of the brain and then the other in an alternating pattern tends to induce trance. Yogis do this by alternately breathing through one nostril and then the other. I suspect that's what's going on in EMDR and might be the secret behind the old swinging watch method (which is usually interpreted as merely a matter of eye fixation).

I applied this theory once to create a new induction on the fly. I was investigating something I'd read about how concentrating on one hand or the other tends to make the pulse seem more prominent on that side. So I was standing there holding my volunteer by the wrists, saying, "Focus on your right hand. Now focus on your left." I was doing my best to feel the difference in pulse. Then I sped up. "Focus right, now left, now right, now left." I noticed my volunteer's eyes starting to glaze, so I said, "Right, left, right, left, right, left, right, SLEEP!" and gave her hands a gentle tug. She went right off into a deep trance.

Of course, Laurel Parnell in Transforming Trauma: EMDR devotes a section to discussing why EMDR is not hypnosis. Like most people who claim to not be doing hypnosis, she bases her argument on false notions of what hypnosis is. Proponents of EMDR say their clients don't give up control, remember the whole process, don't enter a trance, and don't take suggestions from the operator. Of course, we know that hypnosis does not necessarily involve giving up control or having amnesia. We also know that trance does not mean turning into a zombie. Furthermore, EMDR operators DO give suggestions; they just call them "interweaves." Based on this, I consider EMDR to be a specialized form of hypnotherapy.

Ultimately, I think it's great that people are receiving healing by means of EMDR. The world needs more healing.

I feel it's a crime, however, that most of those clients don't then learn what else hypnosis can do for them; in fact, many of them are left with the same misconceptions they had about hypnosis before the session. I think it's also sad that the practitioners of EMDR don't get the benefit of learning from our methods, nor do they offer us the benefit of learning from theirs.

It's analogous to teaching people that they can wash their hands with water, but not telling them that they can also use it to wash other things, that they can drink it, cook with it, use it to make tea, use it to power water wheels . . . Or introducing a microwave oven to someone and not explaining that it can do more than make popcorn.

James

Kathleen Hanover said:

I used EMDR a number of years ago to help get over a trauma and it was remarkably effective. The psychologist administering it was also good at hypnosis (she was the first person to hypnotize me) so I imagine she used whichever methodology she thought would be most effective, and she chose EMDR.

It was interesting...I understand when EMDR was first developed, it was visual (you watched a light move back and forth). In my case, the psychologist used a little box that generated tones that I listened to on a headset. The tones alternated between one ear and the other, activating one side of the brain or the other. It was pretty interesting, in addition to being effective, at least for me.


Kathleen
Still just a client

John R. Brochu said:

Joseph:


I see no advantage that EMDR would hold over hypnosis. I have had the opportunity to study with EMDR practitioners and I have not seen the value in it.

John Brochu
BrochuHypnosisCenter.com

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