Domoratsky Vladimir Antonovich

Doctor of Medical Sciences, professor, psychotherapist, psychiatrist, sexologist. Full member and head of the modality “Ericksonian psychotherapy and Ericksonian hypnosis” of the All-Russian Professional Psychotherapeutic League (OPPL), official teacher of the international class OPPL, full member of the Russian Scientific Sexological Society, vice-president of the National self-regulatory organization “Union of Psychotherapists and Psychologists”. Conducts long-term training programs on Ericksonian hypnosis in the League, as well as training seminars on psychotherapy using eye movements (EMDR), short-term strategic psychotherapy, psychotherapy for sexual dysfunctions and marital disharmonies, psychotherapy for psychosomatic disorders in Moscow, Minsk, Kyiv, Chisinau, Krasnodar, Vladivostok , Novosibirsk and other cities.

Main directions of scientific activity: studying the mechanisms of formation and clinical features of neurotic and sexual disorders. Development and improvement of approaches to the prevention and treatment of neurotic and psychosomatic disorders, sexual disharmonies and sexual dysfunctions, with an emphasis on methods of their psychotherapeutic correction.

Member of the editorial boards of the journals “Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Clinical Psychology” (Minsk), “Psychotherapy” (Moscow), “Theory and Practice of Psychotherapy” (Montreal, Canada). Author and co-author of more than 240 scientific publications, including 12 books.

As a practitioner, she provides therapy for people with neurotic and psychosomatic disorders, addictions, sexual disharmonies and dysfunctions.

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR)- one of the most effective methods of short-term therapy, while being quite easy to use, safe and universal in use. EMDR works with children and adults, in the context of both the past, present and future, can be complemented by other techniques, and has a wide range of applications.

Duration of the training course: 40 academic hours.

Lesson mode: 2 seminars for 2 days (10 academic hours per day).

Target Audience: practicing psychologists, psychotherapists, sexologists, psychiatrists, senior students of psychological faculties and medical universities.

At the seminars you will be able to master the basic skills of EMDR for effective use in your own practice and self-help, learn about the features of using the method in various situations and the possibilities of combining it with other approaches.

Seminar dates:

• October 13-14, 2018
• December 8-9, 2018

Time: 10.00-18.00

Course program

• History of the creation and development of EMDR.
• Mechanisms of the therapeutic effect of the method.
• The main stages of the standard EMDR procedure.
• Working with individual negative memories.
• Techniques to ensure client safety.
• Application of stimulating strategies when processing dysfunctional material is blocked.
• Features of work when a reaction occurs.
• EMDR in working with acute psychological trauma and remote traumatic events. Protocols for working with post-traumatic stress (PTSD).
• Using EMDR in children.
• General strategy for working in the EMDR model; psychotherapy (working with the past, present and future).
• Protocol for working with post-traumatic stress disorder.
• Therapy for specific (isolated) and social phobias.
• Dealing with self-doubt and low self-esteem.
• EMDR in the treatment of anxiety disorders.
• Recommendations for the use of EMDR.
• How to present EMDR to clients?
• Bilateral stimulation as a method of self-help.

The second seminar discusses modern approaches to the use of EMDR in various situations and provides more complex work strategies:

• Risk factors for using EMDR.
• Ideas about complex trauma and the characteristics of its symptoms.
• Practice using various variants of the “Safe Place” technique.
• Using the “life line” in EMDR.
• Affect Scan technique.
• Technique “Connecting to resources”.
• Technique “Managing Fear”.
• “Blind” psychotherapeutic protocol (work without disclosing the problem).
• Drawing EMDR protocol for adults.
• Editor of negative (nightmare) dreams.
• Techniques for working with EMDR in a group format.
• Working with traumas of violence.
• EMDR in the treatment of psychogenic sexual dysfunctions.
• EMDR in the treatment of dissociative disorders.
• Working with acute grief (loss syndrome).
• New protocols for working with cancer patients.
• Protocols for working with chemical dependencies.
• The use of EMDR in patients with somatic pathology.
• Combined use of EMDR and Ericksonian psychotherapy techniques.
• Supervision.

Forms of work: lectures; demonstrations of practical work with various types of problems of participants using EMDR; work in pairs; supervision.

* The seminar leader conducts many demonstrations of practical work with various kinds of problems of participants using the techniques discussed. *All participants receive electronic text versions of presentations, including protocols for working with various problems.

Additional information

The method is based on a model of accelerated information processing, according to which a person has a special psychophysiological mechanism, called the adaptive information-processing system, which ensures the maintenance of mental balance (F. Shapiro, 1995). When it is activated, any information is processed, including those related to stress and survival problems. These processes normally occur in all people during the stage of sleep accompanied by rapid movements of the eyeballs (REM sleep phase). If for some reason the information-processing system is blocked, processing and neutralization of traumatic experience does not occur. In this case, the negative information is, as it were, “frozen” and freezes for a long time in the part of the neural network it occupies in its original (determined by the traumatic experience) form. Neural structures that store dysfunctional material unchanged are isolated from other areas of the cerebral cortex. Therefore, adaptive (psychotherapeutic) information cannot connect with stuck and isolated information about the traumatic event, which means that new learning does not occur. Under the influence of various external and internal factors reminiscent of the trauma, the isolated neural network is restimulated (activated), which leads to the release of information stored in it: images, sounds, sensations, taste, smell, affect and beliefs associated with the traumatic event. At the same time, the subject not only vividly imagines its picture, but re-experiences the whole gamut of negative emotions and physical discomfort. Thus, the lack of adequate processing leads to the fact that the entire complex of negative experiences associated with trauma continues to be provoked by current events, which can manifest itself in the form of nightmares, obsessive thoughts, avoidant behavior, autonomic disorders, etc.

The essence of the method is to artificially activate the process of accelerated processing and neutralize traumatic memories, as well as any other negative information blocked in the neural networks of the brain. It is assumed that eye movements or alternative forms of bilateral stimulation trigger sleep-like processes during the rapid eye movement phase. The method provides quick access to isolated stored traumatic material, which undergoes accelerated processing. Memories with a high negative emotional charge transform into a more neutral form, and the patients’ corresponding ideas and beliefs acquire an adaptive character. EMDR produces rapid changes, which sets it apart from most other forms of psychotherapy. F. Shapiro (1995) explains this by saying that the method allows direct access to dysfunctional material stored in memory.

Being, in fact, an integrative method, EMDR combines well with other areas of psychotherapy. At the same time, it can be used as a very effective way of processing psychological trauma of any severity. In 2010, one of the pioneers of Geshalt therapy in France (since 1970), Serge Ginger, published an unexpected article “EMDR: an Integrative Approach”, in which he called on colleagues to integrate the “revolutionary EMDR method” into their practice. He cited interesting statistics about his clients: 42% of clients completed 1-2 sessions of EMDR therapy. The condition improved in 28% of them. 47% of clients completed 3-6 sessions. 84% of them showed significant improvement in their condition. 10% of clients completed more than 7 sessions, improvement in their condition could be observed in 90% of them! Ginger notes the overlaps and similarities between EMDR and other psychotherapeutic approaches. For example, as in Gestalt therapy, EMDR supports the client in expressing emotions while working with trauma (including bodily manifestations), while providing a safe framework through the therapeutic alliance and empathy. The method strives to complete the “unfinished gestalt” in the client’s past. EMDR works with “polarities”, for example, such as those present simultaneously: - the need for security and the need for independence; caring for the feelings of others and standing up for oneself; a negative self-image (“negative self-belief”) and a desired image that a person wants to achieve (“positive self-belief”). The method addresses both intrapersonal phenomena and a person’s relationship with the outside world, similar to how work occurs at the “contact boundary” between a person and the environment, in the “here and now.” EMDR also conducts regular assessments of body sensations (“body scans”). Ginger emphasizes that the protocols and special information restructuring techniques used in EMDR are well integrated into Gestalt therapy and other psychotherapeutic approaches, introducing a neurophysiological dimension there.

Indications for use of the method:

• post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans of local wars and civilians (including trauma of sexual violence, consequences of attacks, accidents, fires, man-made disasters and natural disasters); obsessive-compulsive disorder; panic disorder; psychogenic sexual dysfunctions;
• dissociative disorders (if the psychotherapist has special skills);
• addiction to psychoactive substances;
• chronic somatic diseases and associated psychological trauma;
• cases of acute grief (loss syndrome);
• psychosomatic disorders in which a history of psychotrauma has been identified, which presumably has a connection with the current pathology (this traumatic episode is processed);
• marital and industrial conflicts;
• problems associated with increased anxiety, self-doubt, low self-esteem, etc.

There are few contraindications for the use of EMDR. These include: psychotic states, epilepsy, inability to tolerate high levels of anxiety (both during sessions and in the intervals between them).

Forms of work:

• lectures
• demonstrations of practical work with various types of problems of participants using EMDR
• work in pairs
• supervision

Pre-registration in the group is required!

Contacts: training manager of the CS OPPL
Anna Rudolfovna Neroda

Today I want to bring to your attention an amazing computer program that will help you get rid of many negative experiences and memories using a set of simple visual exercises.

Yes, yes, that's right: by doing visual exercises, you are freed from many dramatic incidents from your past. Fears disappear, painful memories leave, sad feelings dissipate, grievances melt, painful emotions disappear. This is amazing, isn't it?! Sit back and get ready to listen - you will find a story about how it all works, how it helps us.

This story began in 1987, when American psychotherapist Francine Shapiro, while walking in the park, discovered that some thoughts that were disturbing her at that moment suddenly disappeared as if by themselves, and without any conscious effort on her part. But the most surprising thing was that when Francine returned to these thoughts, they no longer had the same negative impact on her as they had a few minutes ago.

Francine Shapiro

And this discovery made such a strong impression on her that she completely focused on her feelings, on what was happening, trying to find an explanation for this magical change in her consciousness.

“I noticed,” writes Shapiro, “that when disturbing thoughts arose, my eyes spontaneously began to move from side to side and up and down diagonally. Then the disturbing thoughts disappeared, and when I deliberately tried to remember them, the negative charge inherent in these thoughts turned out to be significantly reduced.

Noticing this, I began to make deliberate movements with my eyes, concentrating my attention on various unpleasant thoughts and memories. I noticed that all these thoughts disappeared and lost their negative emotional connotation."

So, Shapiro made an interesting discovery, which told her that there was some obvious connection between eye movements and the intensity of negative experiences, and after a long theoretical and experimental study, she was put forward a hypothesis that could explain the reason for the rapid release from negative emotions. And I wish I could especially emphasize that this hypothesis is in line with modern provisions on human mental activity, and is consistent with the main schools and theories in psychology: biochemical, behavioral, psychodynamic, etc.

According to modern concepts, the brain consists of countless individual neurons (mind and memory units, if you like). These neurons are connected to each other in chains, neural plexuses. These plexuses are also connected to each other, and, in general, all these connections and interconnections give rise to a neural network.

Neural chains perform a wide variety of tasks: like the shelves of a closet where you store certain things, neural chains also store some important information - and in one chain, for example, a memory of your first love is stored, in another a memorized poem, in a third - ability to add numbers, and so on.

If you watched the movie "Dreamcatcher", then remember this episode where our subconscious is presented in the form of a huge library. This is an interesting, but not very plausible comparison: our neural network is much more complex than any library, and if we imagine this network as a library, then the books must interact with each other. Because neural circuits are dynamically connected to each other. And, for example, the neural circuit of our first love is connected to another circuit about the first sexual experience. It is also connected with the chain about the first date, with the chain about the first awareness of one’s feelings.

Hundreds, thousands, millions of different combinations and combinations. The more connections there are between neural chains, the more flexible the brain works, the more resources are used to solve a particular problem. And, on the contrary, the fewer connections a chain has, the more difficult it is to interact with it.

If a neural chain is a certain problem of ours, and this chain does not have a sufficient number of neural connections, then this problem will be very difficult to solve, because all our experience, all our skills, experiences and abilities are not used in solving this problem.

F. Shapiro's method (Desensitization and processing of trauma with eye movements, or EMDR) is based on the position that traumatic events lead to the appearance of autonomous isolated neural chains of traumatic experience in the neural network. On the way between the traumatic chain and other parts of the neural network, a barrier is formed that prevents not only the “exchange of experience” between them, but also contact with them in general.

And to be more precise, it looks like this: “having started,” the chain forms a series of contact chains, or associative channels, through which it receives significant information. And this chain is strictly focused on receiving only those stimuli that restimulate it. Any other potential contact (let’s assume this is a chain with useful experience, that “every cloud has a silver lining”) is fundamentally blocked.

Let's look at this with an example. Let's say a woman has experienced drama, her loved one has left her. A traumatic neural chain appears in the neural network, and, on the one hand, it “sticks” to all other chains that activate its work, and, on the other, it is delimited, isolated by a biochemical barrier on the way to the formation of connections with other parts of neural experience.

And this neural chain of trauma begins to work like a nipple, strictly in one direction: everything that reminds her of the trauma, she easily misses, and everything that can alleviate her suffering is hindered.

As a consequence, over a long period of time this “nodule” of injury is subject to constant restimulation. The house, photographs, dishes, conversations of loved ones, bed, certain hours of the day, things, TV, furniture, the road to work - everything constantly reminds her of what happened, memories constantly “pile up”, constantly the same painful thoughts and emotions. And at the same time, everything that is “in the other direction” does not lead to results: reassuring loved ones only provokes tears, the speeches of a psychotherapist do not help in any way, sedatives cause disgust, time “does not heal”, everything and everyone is sickening to look at.

And all this happens because the traumatic experience is alienated from the resources of the neural network, but is selectively connected only to those areas (associative channels) that enhance its reactivity. This is why sometimes a person experiencing drama is said to be “clinging to his grief.” But, in fact, he is not to blame for anything, and he himself suffers the most from this. He suffers much more than he could suffer if all parts of the experience of the neural network were fully included in his emotional state.

A reasonable question arises: if such an organization of neural traumatic experience occurs without any conscious (or even unconscious) human participation, and is unjustifiably one-sided and harmful, then why did nature create this mechanism? What's the point? After all, there is no benefit, but only harmful harm. And why was such meanness invented in our body?!

And the meaning, my friends, is very, very simple. The thing is that such an organization is entirely focused on the bodily experience of existence. In the experience of any creature, a single traumatic experience (bodily trauma of any origin) must be remembered for the rest of its animal life in order to be guaranteed to avoid it when repeated.

Learning should always be done the first time - once and for all. And if, for example, a young fox pricks himself on the hedgehog’s needles, then he will no longer approach the hedgehog. A “prickly hedgehog” neural chain appears, which works strictly in one direction: and, on the one hand, our little fox will now never forget about the dangers of hedgehogs, and, on the other hand, he will never have the theory that “a hedgehog is a bird.” proud", and the like. The hedgehog is an enemy, a danger, period. And no options.

Alas, as the psychological component of life becomes more complex (to the level where the psychological can dominate over the physical, will over reflex, and logic over instinct), the process of formation of harmful traumatic neural “sores” (but now these are often not physical injuries, but psychological ones) hasn't changed a bit.

And if a negative experience has occurred, then the principle of formation of a neural chain is no different from a fox’s reaction to a hedgehog. The only difference is that the fox cub has a reaction only at that moment in time when the hedgehog is present in his field of vision. The only difference is that in humans the associative channels that restimulate the painful chain are hundreds and thousands of times more perfect and diverse than in any animal, and the restimulations themselves after a traumatic event acquire a landslide, obsessive and chronic character.

F. Shapiro discovered that spontaneous (or forced) eye movements break the barriers between “bad” neural experiences and the rest of the neural network. And by turning to various parts of his neural (and, in particular, sensory) experience, a person “connects” the traumatic chain to the general neural network, which gives very quick relief.

For now, in the process of his experience of trauma, sources of saving information are connected, which were previously tightly isolated.

That is why, as Shapiro writes, with the deliberate repetition of any disturbing thoughts, it is discovered that they no longer have the negative power that they had before.

It is noteworthy that there is one type of mental activity when the EMDR method proposed by Shapiro works as if by itself: this is sleep and dreaming. In sleep, there is a repeating phase of rapid eye movement (REM), when the sleeper's eyeballs literally begin to “dart” from side to side. As soon as this happens (and this happens several times in one dream), the person absolutely sees the dream. It can be assumed that processes similar to EMDR occur in a dream: healing, resourceful experiences from other parts of the neural network are added to the traumatic experience. Thus, we can say that sleep is a spontaneous form of psychological self-healing.

Unfortunately, just as spontaneous is the formation of rigid patterns of negative experience, expressed in the fact that a traumatic experience of any kind is accompanied by the direction of the gaze at one point. And it doesn’t matter where this point is, on the right or left, above or below, diagonally up or down - the only thing that matters is that our gaze returns to this starting point again and again, and this makes our experience worse. But if, as Shapiro suggested, you force your gaze to any other point, then the strength of the negative experience immediately weakens.

But this is not the most important thing. For a person, no matter what state he is in, cannot think about the same thing all the time, it is impossible. One way or another, he is distracted, something distracts him, he changes his point of view and is temporarily freed from negative emotions.

But as soon as the external stimulus weakens, thoughts (and gaze) immediately return to their original position, like a tumbler doll. This means that a simple switch will not be enough; more subtle work is needed: to shift a person’s gaze while preserving his thoughts and feelings about the negative experience. And if a certain direction of gaze is a certain concentration of experience, then, by forcing a person to think in any other direction of gaze, we give him a chance to use unused resources that were blocked by the traumatic chain.

EMDR therapy

This is how the EMDR method came about - desensitization and processing of trauma with eye movements. And if you are interested in this method, you can read Shapiro’s book about it, the book is called: “Psychotherapy of emotional trauma using eye movements.” This book was published by the publishing house "Klass", and, if desired, it can be found. This is a very serious and thorough work describing the basic principles, protocols and procedures of EMDR.

And today we also have at our disposal a special EMDR computer program called “Eye Movement Integrator”, developed (using the method of Frances Shapiro) by psychologist Natalya Doroshenko.

Eye movement integrator

The program will be of interest, first of all, to practicing psychotherapists and doctors, heads of medical institutions, rehabilitation centers for post-traumatic syndromes (Chechen, Afghan), and all those who, as part of their duty, have to work with traumatic experiences of different “nature” and gravity.

The Eye Movement Integrator program consists of two parts: an introductory block, where you will receive instructions on how to work with the program, and a therapeutic block, where traumatic experience is processed.

At the initial stage, the introductory part will be necessary for familiarization, and I strongly recommend reading the entire course of instructions from beginning to end, and answering all the questions posed by the program. And after the introductory part is over and you are completely ready to perform the exercises, the program will smoothly take you to the beginning of the first session.

Upon entering your therapeutic field, you will see as if the night sky and the points of stars moving on it. At the bottom of the screen, where you're used to seeing the Control Panel button and the Start button, you'll find a row of buttons that help you set up your therapy session.

Setting the Frame

Briefly, the essence of the therapeutic process can be expressed as follows: you remember your problem (you will be instructed in more detail about this in the introductory part), and after that you mentally place it inside the geometric figure you have chosen.

Control Panel

There are no recipes as to which figure is best to choose for a session: your intuition itself will tell you which figure is best suited to solve a particular problem.

Once a shape is selected, it will appear in the center of the screen. Now you can further customize it to your taste. First, you can change the thickness of the shape's frame. Secondly, you can change the fill color of the selected shape, and increase or decrease the size of the shape itself.

After all preparations for the session are completed, we can begin our first healing session.

So, we'll start: we place our problem inside the selected figure, and launch our session (the "Select Session" button on the panel). And after that, for 15 minutes we just have to follow the movements of the selected figure with our eyes, mentally keeping our problem inside it. Forget about everything, organize everything so that you will not be disturbed for at least one hour, and focus completely on this process.

moving figure

There are four sessions in total, each of them will make the figure move in a certain sequence.

For example, in the first session the figure will move from left to right and right to left. In the second session, it will either move away from you or come closer. Each EMDR session uses unused brain resources; with every minute of the session, more and more neuron friends will come to your aid.

After the first exercise, you will be able to detect significant changes in your sensations, in your experiences, in your thoughts and feelings.

At the end of each session, the program will ask you to comprehend all the changes that occurred BEFORE the session and those that occurred AFTER.

Download the program

You can download "Integrator" in the catalog of computer programs.

Related articles Psychological tests Psycholinguistic programs

“It happens that some force seems to push us out of our usual life, forcing us to change,” says Francine Shapiro. “But changes can be so abrupt and tragic, as happened to me, that we ourselves are not able to cope with them.”

At the age of 36, Francine, having barely defended her doctoral dissertation in English literature, learned that she had cancer. An operation, a divorce from her husband, a long treatment - all these events changed her life forever. The disease subsided, but Francine seemed frozen between life and death: she was tormented by constant fears and obsessive anxious thoughts, haunted by nightmares at night, and during the day everything fell out of her hands.

One day, while walking in the park, she noticed that some thoughts that constantly bothered her had disappeared. Focusing on them again, Francine realized... that she wasn't scared!

As a result of the exercise, the level of anxiety decreased, people were able to perceive what was bothering them more realistically

“I was amazed: as soon as I returned to my anxious thoughts, my eyes began to involuntarily move from side to side and diagonally up and down,” she recalls. - When I moved them intentionally, the pain from difficult memories disappeared. Moreover, feelings and thoughts like “I am powerless”, “something is wrong with me” have been replaced by others: “this is all in the past”, “I have a choice”.

Shapiro asked friends, colleagues, and participants in a psychology seminar she was attending to do the same exercise. The results were striking: anxiety levels decreased, and people were able to perceive what was bothering them more realistically. So by chance, in 1987, a new psychotherapy technique was discovered.

This event prompted Francine Shapiro to pursue a degree in psychology and pursue a dissertation in clinical psychology. For several years now she has been working at the Institute for Brain Research in Palo Alto (USA). In 2002, she was awarded the Sigmund Freud Prize, the world's most important award in the field of psychotherapy.

Shapiro gave a detailed description of a unique psychotherapeutic technique - the EMDR technique, which is especially effective in the treatment of emotional traumas in the book “Psychotherapy of emotional traumas using eye movements. Basic principles, protocols and procedures.”

What is EMDR

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Trauma Processing) is a psychotherapeutic technique that is most often used in the treatment of emotional trauma. Eye movements trigger the process of natural healing of the human psyche. Since the traumatic event blocks her self-regulation processes, feelings, images, and thoughts associated with the painful experience seem to “get stuck” in her. And thanks to EMDR, they begin to be processed faster.

EMDR as a way to work with trauma

Francine Shapiro called her technique “Eye Movement Desensitization and Trauma Processing Technique” (EMDR). The word “desensitization” can be translated as “removal of sensitivity.” Psychotherapists all over the world today, in addition to classical methods, use it in working with those who have experienced emotional trauma, sexual violence, the horrors of war, have been victims of a terrorist attack, natural disaster, or have seen the death of other people.

“Such situations go beyond the ordinary experience of a person,” explains psychotherapist Natalya Rasskazova. “If such a traumatic event happened at a time when a person was especially vulnerable, his psyche cannot cope with this experience on its own.”

Months and even years later, he may be haunted by intrusive thoughts and painful memories. Their images are so vivid that every time a person feels the realism of what is happening: he not only remembers, but again and again experiences the same horror, pain, fear and helplessness. The EMDR technique allows you to improve your condition in just a few sessions. It also helps in the treatment of various phobias, addictions, depression, anorexia and even schizophrenia at the initial stage of this disease. There are few contraindications: severe mental conditions, some heart and eye diseases.

How to use EMDR at work

Directed eye movement is the basis of this technique. “Most of us have difficulty voluntarily controlling the muscles responsible for eye movements,” explains Francine Shapiro. “It’s easier to continue these movements while concentrating your gaze on the therapist’s hand.” He usually holds his fingers, pencil or ruler vertically at a distance of 30–35 centimeters from the patient's face. He, concentrating on a painful memory or sensation and without interrupting the story, simultaneously follows the therapist’s hand with his eyes.

Artem is 22 years old, ten years ago he was walking in the park with his mother and brother when they were attacked by hooligans. “All these years I was tormented by terrible memories,” says Artem, “and I had the same nightmare: I’m trying to run away from something terrible, but I can’t budge and I feel like I’m falling into some deep, narrow hole ... I began to avoid communicating with new people, it seemed to me that everyone was looking at me with condemnation, as if they were saying: “You are a nonentity, you could not protect yourself and your family.”

Thanks to the EMDR technique, memories are no longer accompanied by strong negative emotions

During the first meeting, the psychotherapist asked Artem to remember the most terrible episode from that tragic day - when one of the attackers pulled out a knife. “I focused on this scene, following with my gaze the wand that the therapist passed in front of my eyes from left to right. It seemed that I was about to start suffocating, as it had been before, but I kept seeing the therapist’s hand, and it seemed to be holding me. A few minutes later, the therapist asked again about what I was seeing and feeling. I described the same scene again, but felt that the previous emotions had disappeared: I wasn’t in so much pain.”

“There is no magic here,” explains Natalya Rasskazova. - Artem continues psychotherapy, but the first meetings at which the therapist worked using the EMDR technique made it possible to relieve the severity of the experience: within a few sessions the perception of what happened to him changed. His feeling of “I am a coward and a nonentity” was replaced by the confidence: “There is no shame in surviving.” Thanks to the EMDR technique, a tragic event becomes one of the many facts of a person’s life, memories are no longer accompanied by strong negative emotions.

If working with the eyes is difficult

For some eye conditions (for example, severe myopia) or in situations where watching the therapist's hand is associated with traumatic memories (for example, being hit in the face by parents as a child), the therapist uses tapping on the hand or sounds as a stimulus. . Tapping on the hand is performed as follows: the patient sits down with his hands on his knees, palms up. The therapist (with one or two fingers) alternately taps them rhythmically. With sound stimulation, he snaps his fingers in one ear or the other of the client at approximately the same speed as during a series of eye movements.

How EMDR works

There is no clear answer to why this technique is so effective. Psychologists and neuroscientists study and test several hypotheses.

The first of them is a model of accelerated information processing. Francine Shapiro suggests that the mind, like the body, has an innate ability to self-regulate.

“The brain involuntarily processes all the information about what is happening to us, what worries and worries us,” explains Natalya Rasskazova. - It encodes the data, neutralizes it and sends it for storage. This allows the psyche to adapt to a variety of situations. But physical and mental trauma and stress block the processes of natural self-regulation. Emotions, images, thoughts, sensations associated with painful memories seem to be stuck in memory as they were at the time of the traumatic events. As a result, a person not only cannot forget them, but it becomes difficult for him to remember his positive feelings.”

Eye movements activate natural healing within the body itself: they trigger processes that unlock the neural networks of the brain in which traumatic experiences are “stored”, and they begin to be processed at an accelerated rate.

Eye movements from side to side cause alternate activation of the hemispheres and synchronous processing of information

Francine Shapiro does not exclude that the EMDR technique also activates processes in the brain that occur in it during the “rapid eye movement” phase, which is accompanied by active eye movement. At this moment, the brain processes information received during wakefulness and stores it in memory.

In addition, research shows that the EMDR technique synchronizes the rhythms of the brain hemispheres.

“They process emotions differently,” continues Natalya Rasskazova. - The left hemisphere deals with what causes positive emotions, the right hemisphere processes negative experiences. If we direct our gaze to objects located to our right, this will cause a more positive emotional response than fixing our gaze on objects located to our left. And eye movements from side to side cause alternate activation of the hemispheres and synchronous processing of information.”

Controversy surrounding EMDR

Since its inception, the EMDR technique has been the subject of active scientific controversy.

“Many specialists find it difficult to accept that our brain can be “rebooted,” explains Jacques Roque, vice-president of the French association of psychotherapists who practice EMDR. Until now, psychoanalysts and psychotherapists have assumed that only words spoken by one person and heard by another can heal.

Psychological problems were talked about only in terms of meaning: for those who experienced trauma, it was a meeting with death. But today we understand that the biological work of the brain plays a vital role in healing: the psyche is inseparable from its neurological “carrier.” Information processing can be restarted, sometimes in exotic ways that contradict the conventional wisdom that healing takes time. Maybe we just find it difficult to accept that our brain, like any computer, can be reprogrammed?

Who can use this technique at work?

As with any psychotherapy, the client's condition may change between sessions. Memories of other unpleasant events, for example, from early childhood, may “pop up” in him. That is why only psychotherapists or clinical psychologists should use the EMDR technique, who can, if necessary, provide emergency assistance, including medical assistance.

“But even a well-trained practitioner cannot guarantee success when using EMDR techniques with every person,” cautions Francine Shapiro. - It is not a panacea and is most often used in combination with other methods of therapy. But, of course, EMDR helps to relieve the severity of the experience in just a few meetings.”

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization) is an information-process psychotherapy that was created and tested in the treatment of Post-Traumatic Mental Disorders.

I am very, very, very glad that this technique has finally reached Russia. Firstly, because I think this method is very effective and environmentally friendly. Secondly, it does not require the highest qualifications of the psychologist who applies it (in light of the problem of psychotherapeutic lameness in the country, this is a very relevant point). Thirdly, this method is short-term.

Have I tried it?

For the first time - in 2009. I first studied all the available information, including the book by Shapiro (the author of the method), and read everything I found on the Internet. I had a fear that as a result of EMDR, changes would happen to me that I was not ready for. The fear was not justified. That's one of the things I love about EMDR: it's a very organic technique. Since this is, to some extent, the launch of a system of self-healing of the psyche, then for each session exactly as much is done as is environmentally friendly and harmonious at the moment.

In total, I completed about 10 sessions, in addition to what else I do in therapy. Ask questions.

How does this work

There is a theory that traumatic experiences are stored in our brain in the form of isolated neural clusters that are not included in the overall system. Something like a cyst. As a result, the isolated cluster lives its own life, reacting to events as if the trauma situation had not yet ended. Just like that grandfather from the joke, who did not know that the war ended in the last century, and continued to partisan, derailing trains. EMDR allows you to integrate this isolated cluster into the overall system. That is, to resettle the partisan grandfather into the current reality so that he assimilates, leaves his military experience in the past and joins peaceful life.

It's like a controlled dreaming process. That phase of sleep when the body repairs itself. Only you are awake and present at all this. Nothing strange or scary happens. No glitches, no insights, no insights. The state is more relaxed than tense. It is important to relax and not manage the process, just let the emerging thoughts, pictures or feelings appear and move where they go. This is also similar to when a computer optimizes disk space: pieces of files fly back and forth.

Some people feel after a session as if they were unloading train cars. Some people feel well rested, as if they had a great night's sleep (this is why I love EMDR too).

It is impossible to say in advance how many sessions will be required. Sometimes it happens that a major problem is solved in one single session. Sometimes it happens that you need several. The process itself, launched during the session, continues for another two weeks, so on average, changes are felt after 10 days, and are often felt suddenly: bam - and the pain stops. Or it stopped floating. Or somehow everything settled down so well in my head that it finally let go. Here it is important to trust your system that it will do everything as it should and when it should.

What does it help with?

This works best and fastest with adult traumas: for example, painful childbirth or the consequences of an accident, disability, rape. It takes longer for childhood injuries because they are so multi-layered. For childhood trauma, EMDR may not be enough, since EMDR does not involve the formation of long-term attachment to the therapist, building trust and responding to various kinds of feelings and emotions. And these are important parts of working with trauma.

Works well with negative beliefs, including systemic ones, such as “I have no value”, “I am impossible to love” etc. With one caveat: unless this belief plays a big role in your life, and without it, life can collapse because it will have nothing to stand on.

In what cases will emdr not work:

• For some reason this method is not suitable for you.
• If you are working with an injury and are not yet ready for “life after injury.” Then you must first draw up a plan for a new life, otherwise it will turn out that without trauma there is nothing more to live with, and in this case the psyche will resist healing.

What it is not:

• This is not hypnosis.
• These are not lucid dreams.
• This is not esotericism or shamanism.

This is the purposeful use of the “immune system” of the psyche to work with a given problem.

Pros

• Several sessions are enough to handle one problem. Minimum one, maximum 10-15.
• In order to use this method, a long working alliance with the therapist is not required. In particular, because it is not the therapist who is working, but the client’s psyche. The therapist ensures that the procedure is performed safely and correctly.
• The therapist is required to carefully follow instructions and the minimum requirements: education, adherence to ethical standards, love of work and respect for the client. You don't have to be a genius and know the answers to all the questions.
• It works very cleanly: there is no rollback. If, say, after EMDR you no longer care what every stranger on the street thinks about you, then this will not change. It will never float again.
• The method works the way it is needed for you at the moment, organically and environmentally friendly. There will be exactly as many changes as you can handle at the moment.
• I was scared: what if something important to me disappears from my system? What if I change beyond recognition? Nothing like that happens. Everything that is important to you will remain with you. For example, if you are working through grief from the loss of someone important and loved in your life, they will not stop being important and loved to you, the pain will simply stop killing you.

Important: the method is not magical. If you changed your beliefs with the help of it, you will still have to build a new life. They won’t start falling in stacks at your feet, but it will be easier for you to build relationships. Money will not fall from the sky, but you will be able to build a more harmonious plan for improving your financial condition.

Cons

Due to the nature of this method, it has virtually no downsides. If the therapist strictly follows the protocol without deviating from the accepted procedure, then the worst that can happen is that the method simply does not work. The method does not cause any harm, in the form of psychosis and similar setbacks - I regularly look for client reviews and read all the topics on forums where EMDR is discussed.

Once there was a complaint that vision had deteriorated due to these same eye movements. Movement isn't the only thing being used at this point. Headphones are used, knee taps are used, or there are also vibrating things that the client holds in his hands. All this works with the same efficiency. Personally, I don’t like things - it seems to me that they purr like a cat’s nose. It distracts me. Headphones with sounds suited me best. It didn’t work to move my eyes behind my hand - my ter folded her fingers in the same gesture as on the icons, and this suggested all sorts of extraneous thoughts.

Once I encountered some kind of heresy, like demons in the form of black clouds began to emerge from the client. Please only consult with practicing therapists who have received appropriate training in the proper use of EMDR. I’ve seen EMDR mentioned on pick-up, arrangement and NLP forums. Don't listen to these people, please. There is also a shareware program on the network for independent work. I don’t recommend it either; this method cannot be done independently.

In general, gentlemen, clients, demand that your therapists master the method!

Gentlemen, therapists, master the method!