Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing or EMDR is a powerful psychological treatment for traumatic memories but also many other psychological problems such as anxiety issues, depression, phobias etc. EMDR is a treatment that enables traumatic memories to be reprocessed so that they do not evoke such painful and distressing emotional reactions. Trauma memories can vary in severity, from what are termed big T’s and little t’s. Big T’s might include memories of sexual of physical abuse, or witnessing a traumatic incident such as a fatal car accident. Little t’s might be a succession of unpleasant memories such as being bullied at work or humiliated in public. Both type’s of trauma can be improperly processed in the brain causing emotional distress when recalled, which can impact on daily functioning. EMDR does not make the memory go away, but it can significantly reduce the intensity of the emotion that it creates.

During treatment the client recalls a traumatic event while simultaneously undergoing ‘bilateral stimulation’ (i.e. moving the eyes from side to side, or tapping on different sides of the body) to resolve the development of trauma-related disorders caused by exposure to past distressing, traumatising, or negative events. A traumatic or distressing experience can overwhelm our usual cognitive and neurological coping mechanisms leaving the memory of the event inadequately processed and stored. The goal of EMDR is to process these distressing memories, reducing their impact to allowing clients to develop more adaptive coping mechanisms.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy or DBT is a form of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy as it also looks at thoughts, emotions and behaviours. It is used to tackle problems in regulating one’s emotions and with interpersonal difficulties. Practices such as mindfulness and other techniques for managing and tolerating distressful emotions are key features of DBT as well as working on interpersonal skills such as assertiveness and communication.

DBT is a useful treatment approach with individuals who have abuse histories and who self harm. It is most commonly delivered in a team approach format with clients/patients attending an individual therapy session with their primary therapist each week, as well as attending a group, with two skills facilitators, which aims to build on their emotion regulation and interpersonal skills. Although DBT is normally a team-based treatment, the principles and skills can be incorporated into individual therapy to good effect.