Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing is a psychotherapy treatment that was originally designed to alleviate the distress associated with traumatic memories. It was developed originally by Dr Shapiro in the late 1980’s. EMDR is guided by the Adaptive Information System which posits that EMDR facilitates the accessing and processing of traumatic memories to bring these to an adaptive resolution. The Adaptive Information Processing Model (AIP) is consistent with neurobiological theories of reconsolidation of memories. Processing of memories is understood to involve the forging of new associations and connections enabling learning to take place with the memory when stored in a new adaptive form. EMDR has found widespread acceptance by much of the clinical community. It’s a protocol based therapy which has been found to be highly efficient not only with traumatic memories but also with a variety of Anxiety Disorders. EMDR is recommended by the UK’s National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) for Post – Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
