EMDR helping the Military

On Saturday, Nov. 5th I gave a presentation to a small group of Airmen at Stewart Air National Guard base, located in Newburgh, NY.  This occurred  during a Drill weekend. With me was April Hannah,  the Wing Director of Psychological Health on base.   We were able to show “Warrior Camp” and it was very well received.  I talked about EMDR and offered to do a demonstration of Resource Installation.  One of the Airmen was volunteered by his men. It was somewhat awkward for him in that he was unable to report on body sensations, but as often happens, he noticed and verbalized an almost immediate relaxing of tension, with only the first set of bilateral eye movements. That produced some laughter and pretty intense attention from the rest of the men.  Just so you know, I am pretty traditional and used my arm – of all the EMDR paraphernalia, I only own TheraTappers and CDs, (no light table – never worked for me).

The meeting with this group lasted an hour. They had recently redeployed from a rather difficult deployment in Iraq. They were not too forthcoming about what happened to them, which is not uncommon with groups of warriors, especially when they are all men and their CO was in the room with them. There was a mental health rep present, however, and he was immensely impressed. April thinks I will be invited back, hopefully to address a larger group.

What are your experiences presenting on EMDR to members of the Military?

Eva J. Usadi, MA, BCD
New York, NY

Filmmaker Releases Documentary on EMDR

Filmmaker Michael Burns has released his latest documentary, EMDR, a movie that explores one of the top treatments for psychological trauma: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing.  Despite turning the community of trauma treatment on its head over the last two decades, EMDR remains lesser known in the mainstream. “With this film I’m looking to introduce people to what EMDR is, how it works, and who can be helped,” said Burns.  Billions of people across the planet have had their lives touched in some way by tragedy.  For many of them, the effects of their abuse, accident, or loss reverberate for the rest of their lives and hold them back from their full potential.

To read the entire Press Release, please click here.

EMDR Listed by SAMHSA on National Registry

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).  This national registry (NREPP) cites EMDR as evidence based practice for treatment of PTSD, anxiety and depression symptoms.  Their review of the evidence also indicated that EMDR leads to an improvement in mental health anxiety.  EMDR is now live on the NREPP website and can be viewed here.

Mediation techniques, EMDR and a heuristic approach

I have found that by using mediation techniques with EMDR and a heuristic approach I am able to help people with Dissociative Identity Disorder come out of hiding, and reintegrate with their lost parts. The heuristic approach is so important  for all therapists to use when working with their clients not just dissociative clients.

Heuristic questions are those that investigate and to engage the client’s creative process which brings about transformation. While teaching a Mind Body Psychology course I taught and demonstrated the use of heuristics and use it with my own clients . Mediation techniques, EMDR and a heuristic approach have been very helpful to my clients. It is described in my recently written book. www.jeanpollack.com

Has anyone else used this approach?

Jean Pollack, PhD

Licensed Psychologist

EMDR Therapist

Life Coach

www.emdrcoach.com

“Spread the Word” Newsletter Launch

It has been my passionate mission (many EMDR therapists could make the same claim) to help Spread the Word about EMDR.  I did an informal survey at the 2007 EMDRIA Conference in Dallas and found that EMDR Therapists estimated that the public knowledge level about EMDR in their home communities ranged from 5 to 15%.  But when I asked how many knew about the prestigious organizations that accept EMDR for the treatment of PTSD, the results were positively dismal:  1% across the board.

This depressing news has goaded me to make more and more efforts to increase the statistics to match EMDR’s success level:  80-90%.  Actually I am aiming for 80% because it seems attainable.  The past year I worked hard to boost my marketing knowledge. Why? I am convinced we need new techniques to accomplish this worthy goal.  This year that knowledge is coming to fruition in this newsletter.

It is culled from the blogs posted at:

http://mytraumatherapy.com/blog/?cat=13

Please check it out as blogs are collecting there.  EMDR clients share their stories in a confidential way.  I think their sincerity is powerful, and will inspire others to forward the stories, helping to spread the word.

I invite you tol help in this process.  Please check out the blog, and if you wish, encourage your enthusiastic EMDR client to share his story with others who could get inspired to take action…to get EMDR for themselves.

Dana Terrell, LCSW
EMDRIA-Approved Consultant
Brainspotting Consultant