Category Archives: EMDR Therapy

Articles, EMDR Therapy

Incorporating Parents into EMDR Therapy with Children

Confident parentI’m a big advocate for including one or both (or more) parents into EMDR therapy with children – when parents are equipped to be supportive and when the children are comfortable with the parents being present.

I prepare parents for the child’s EMDR therapy by saying something like this: “EMDR processing happens internally, so there will be long silences where your child isn’t speaking. We don’t want to interrupt this internal process, so for the most part, you’ll be a silent but comforting presence. However, I may turn to you and ask a question occasionally. I will do this when I think your child is a little stuck and when I think your natural response will be helpful.”

By keeping parents present:

  1. The child feels more secure.
  2. The parent grows in understanding for what the child has experienced.
  3. As the parent becomes more attuned, the child feels closer to the parent.
Articles, EMDR Therapy, Therapy

Why is EMDR Important in the Treatment of Children and Adults with Early Trauma?

Early trauma experienced in the home impacts the brain and overall mental health of the developing child. When parents are behaving in a manner that frightens their children, their children are in a double-bind: “The person to whom I wish to run is at the same time the source of my fear.” With no way to find comfort, the brain becomes disorganized, and it wires itself to be reactive to survive in a dangerous environment. The child’s early experiences teach him that it is not safe to trust or be close, that he is not lovable, and that he must be in charge of getting his own needs met in his own way. Early traumas are stored in the limbic region of the brain, encapsuled in neural networks with the negative beliefs and feelings present at the time of the trauma. EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) stimulates important centers in the right and left hemisphere of the brain that help integrate the stored negative beliefs, feelings, and memories with helpful, adaptive information in the brain. The right-left brain stimulation reaches into the limbic brain in a way that “talk therapy” alone cannot, calming the reactive survival brain.