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"EMDR: A Therapy for Age of the Short Attention Span" Presentation by Paul Velen, LMFT
"EMDR: A THERAPY FOR THE AGE OF THE SHORT ATTENTION SPAN" Featured Presenter: PAUL VELEN, MS, LMFT Disturbance is harmful to overall health. It is possible to rid or at least reduce nagging disturbances that overwhelm, and improve health. EMDR is an efficient way to manage crippling big T traumas and histories of little traumas. Objectives: 1. Participants will learn about the Adaptive Information Processing Model. 2. Understand neurobiological conceptions of Dan Seigel and Daniel Amen as related to EMDR. 3. Participants will be aware of the past, present, and future orientation of EMDR. 4. Participants will become aware of the EMDR standard Protocol. For more information about EMDR and training, visit the EMDRIA website at www.emdria.org. |
Summary of EMDR Presentation by Janell Gagnon
At our October IE CAMFT meeting, we had the pleasure of hearing from one of our own chapter members, Paul Velen, about Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR). Paul Velen’s journey in the helping professions began over 30 years ago when he began teaching, and has landed him as a LMFT for almost 20 years, now fully certified in EMDR. Paul is currently in practice in downtown Riverside, as well as being a group facilitator for caregivers. Paul educated us about EMDR and how it can be beneficial for a number of different problems and disorders with which our clients struggle.
Dr.Francine Shapiro is the founder of EMDR, which is based on the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model. The AIP model takes the viewpoint that, “much of a client’s psychopathology stems from maladaptive encoding and/or incomplete processing of traumatic life experiences. This impairs the client’s ability to integrate these experiences in an adaptive manner.” In plain language, this means that when a client experiences a traumatic life event it is “stuffed” away deep in the unconscious mind because it does not fit with what the client knows. Even though the event is “stuffed” away, it will creep out and this is what causes the client’s psychopathology or maladaptive behavior.
The goal of EMDR is to tap into the client’s unconscious to help them re-process that traumatic event so that it may be integrated in the conscious, and thus no longer cause the client’s behavioral dysfunction. EMDR is different from most psychotherapy modalities in that it works more with the unconscious mind than the conscious, cognitive mind. The process of EMDR is done in the following 8 phases: 1. History and Treatment Planning 5. Installation 2. Preparation 6. Body Scan 3. Assessment 7. Closure 4. Desensitization 8. Reevaluation
One of the best things about EMDR is that it can be done in an adjunctive manner with a traditional therapy modality to benefit clients across a broad spectrum of problems and needs. EMDR has the potential to help a number of problems and disorders including, but not limited to the following: - Phobias - Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) - Medically Unexplained Physical Symptoms (MUPS) and general pain including phantom limb pain - Client’s with “locked-in syndrome” (muscles unable to move) - PTSD or other unresolved distressing life events that give rise to a mental illness - Relapse prevention in OCD - Eating disorders - Performance enhancement and personal development
After educating us about EMDR, Paul performed an interesting demonstration of EMDR on one of our chapter members so we could see how it works first hand. Paul also provided us with a couple of websites where more information about EMDR may be found: http://emdr.nku.edu and http://www.emdr.com/efficacy.htm. If you would like more information about EMDR or would like to refer to Paul Velen for adjunctive EMDR therapy, you can contact him at (951) 536-0956
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