Injury Patient Report – EDMR Therapy
As part of our comprehensive treatment program at OSIC, we are proud to offer Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (“EMDR”) Therapy. Many of our patients experience trauma after an accident. Fortunately, there are ways to treat trauma, including PTSD, to allow accident victims to live a full life.
In this edition of Utah OSIC: Injury Patient Report, Lisa Murphy, LCSW, highlights EMDR Therapy and shares:
- What is EMDR?
- What injuries/conditions is EMDR effective for?
- How does OSIC approach incorporate EMDR?
- Advantages of EMDR
What is EMDR
EMDR is an acronym for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It is an evidence-based psychotherapy that utilizes bilateral stimulation (any stimulus to both sides of the body) to desensitize and reprocess traumatic experiences.
EMDR follows a protocol and structure in which the therapist and patient work together to identify a traumatic memory while the patient simultaneously experiences bilateral stimulation (this could be eye movements, tapping the body with hands, or holding paddles that pulsate alternately in each hand). This leads to a reduction in the vividness and emotion associated with the traumatic memory.
Once EMDR helps the patient desensitize the memory, the person is then helped to be able to reprocess, or change, the emotions, thoughts, and behaviors associated with the trauma. This allows the brain to resume its natural healing process.
What is EMDR Effective For?
EMDR is most effective for traumatic experiences.
Often, when one experiences a traumatic situation, the memory is stored with all the distressing thoughts and feelings that the person was experiencing at the time of the traumatic experience. Then, any trigger or stimulus that reminds the person of the trauma can lead them to experience the same distress they experienced at the time of the traumatic event. Or, the person struggling with unprocessed trauma may respond in their day-to-day lives with maladaptive behaviors because they anticipate a threat or interpret everyday situations as dangerous.
How Does OSIC Incorporate EMDR?
At OSIC, we provide a comprehensive model of care that respects a patient’s recovery from injury and necessitates the care of the patient’s related psychological distress.
When an OSIC patient receives EMDR, it helps the person who has suffered a traumatic experience learn how to support themselves with interventions to intentionally calm the sympathetic nervous system during times of trigger, re-experiencing, or distress of any kind.
Additionally, EMDR helps the OSIC patient to bring up the memory in a safe and supported environment so that the memory can be processed in the body’s naturally adaptive capabilities and reprocessed or understood through their current, real-time lens and place of safety. This reduces the harmful effects of the previous traumatic experience in the patient’s day-to-day life.
Advantages of EMDR
An important advantage of EMDR for OSIC patients is that relief can be experienced by patients quickly, and patients can resolve the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in relatively few sessions.
Another advantage of EMDR for OSIC patients is that they can experience a positive understanding of themselves amid a difficult and traumatic experience through the reprocessing aspect of EMDR treatment.
A therapist who administers EMDR to patients must be well-trained and certified in EMDR for patients to receive benefits.
Medical Specialists Providing Coordinated Care
We work as a physician-led team of specialists to provide the most comprehensive and complete recovery from injuries. We provide services ranging from immediate injury evaluation to complex sub-specialty surgical treatments. We provide both diagnostic and treatment services. We can arrange testing to include: MRI, CT scan, EMG, ultrasound, neurologic testing, and digital x-ray, among other necessary modalities. Our expertise is in both non-surgical and surgical care.
We provide complete surgical services, including surgical facility, anesthesia and implants. The care rendered in our clinic and our affiliated facilities is medically supervised to assure the best outcomes.
When Should I Refer A Patient to OSIC?
Early! We can provide comprehensive and coordinated care most effectively soon after the injury. Once a patient is out of the Emergency Room, or Urgent Care is the perfect time to send them to OSIC. We are also available to evaluate patients further out from the accident.
What Types of Injuries Do You Treat?
We treat both relatively minor and major complex injuries. We treat all bodily injuries and traumatic brain injuries. We have specialists in neurosurgery, neurology, spine, shoulder, elbow, hand/wrist, hip, knee, foot/ankle, physiatry, pain management, interventional spine, psychology, brain injury care, neuro-optometry, nutrition, life care planning and neuropsychology. When needed, we provide additional support care, including medical, cardiac, pulmonary, radiological, and infectious disease, among others.
