Basic Principles - c.ymcdn.comc.ymcdn.com/.../2014_Conference_Handouts/EMDR_Eur… · Web viewWhen Calm/Safe Place Doesn’t Work EMDR Europe Katie O’Shea, M.S. June, 2014. Marshall

When Calm/Safe Place Doesn’t Work

EMDR Europe

Katie O’Shea, M.S. June, 2014

Marshall Wilensky, Ph.D. Edinburgh

INTRODUCTIONS

AIP

Basic Principles

There is a system inherent in all of us that is physiologically oriented to process information to a state of mental health.

The brain's information processing system is composed of memory networks. These memory networks represent associated systems of information and can be represented metaphorically as series of channels.

Pathology is viewed as the impact of earlier experience held in the nervous system in a state-specific form.

Pathological patterns occurred because information that happened at the time of the disturbing event was insufficiently processed. This incomplete processing set in motion a pattern of affects, behaviours, cognitions and consequent identity structures that maintain dysfunction.

The targeting of the sensory information, irrational cognition, emotion and body response combined with alternate stimulation will allow reprocessing of the incompletely processed information.

As dysfunctional information is reprocessed and linked to adaptive memory networks, the organism will move towards health.

Brian Lynn’s experience provided us with the realization that our bodies can access a sense of safety and calm

automatically. Experience with his Pretrauma state evolved to the Safe State method we’ve been using since

2001. If a client’s body doesn’t spontaneously relax when unreviewed experiences are set aside, it may be

necessary to allow their focus to go to a time before trauma was experienced. Because the Safe State concept

grew out of this, Marshall will present it first.

SAFE PLACE to CALM PLACE

K. O’Shea, MS and M. Wilensky, PhD/ EMDR Europe 2014 2

STATE CHANGE VS. TRAIT CHANGE

WEATHER VS. CLIMATE

CALM PLACE AS DIAGNOSTIC

ALWAYS SCREEN FOR DISSOCIATION


Accessing Pre-Traumatic Prenatal Experience Using 'EMDR: Uncovering a Powerful Resource of Equanimity, Integration, and Self- Esteem in the

Pre-Traumatized Self

Brian Lynn, MD, B.Sc ., M.Sc .,

Level II, Consultant

This article is a preliminary report on the remarkable results some of my clients and I have been achieving using EMDR to target prenatal trauma, with a focus on the discovery of an experience of the self prior to any trauma occurring and the enormous healing power that derives from revisiting and reactivating this extraordinarily positive pre-traumatic experience. It is with some hesitation that I am reporting my experience with prenatal trauma processing, as I do not wish to be seen as on the fringe or even over the edge by my colleagues. However, I realize that I was able to overcome my prejudices -through examination of the facts- about the nature of prenatal experience, when memory begins, and how it can be accessed. I have found there is a body of scientific investigation and knowledge on prenatal experience and trauma, and that indeed we do experience and are influenced by our environment in the womb. We can learn from such experience. and therefore, can be traumatized prior to birth. The prenatal self can feel and record this experience. I refer the reader to www.birthpsychology.com/resources/ index.html for a list of publications on this matter. The various kinds of pre- and perinatal trauma and the deep healing that results when processed with EMDR will be the object of other articles by myself and Dr. Heather Pearson, who is also investigating this same field. What I intend to focus on here is the discovery of a pre-traumatic experience at the embryonic stage. which I have found to be a remarkably powerful internal resource for healing already developed and installed, simply requiring reactivation. When I saw the powerful healing results of reactivation of this pre-traumatic experience in a number of relatively "stuck" clients, I felt ethically bound to report this immediately to other clinicians using EMDR so that others may benefit.

To illustrate this phenomenon, I will describe the case of the first person with whom I used this embryonic neural network reactivation (memory retrieval?) technique.

I have been seeing Miss A., a 53 year old retired school teacher, for a number of years on a twice weekly basis for chronic depression and generalized anxiety. The pertinent details in her history are as follows. She was the first born to a very anxious and emotionally immature mother and a post WW II-veteran father, who appears to show signs of PTSD. At a very young age, Miss A. took on the role of caretaker of her mother's and father's emotional well-being. She subsequently became a mother substitute for the three sisters that followed, and naturally, came to feel excessively responsible for the well-being of


everyone around her in later life, at the expense of her own well-being. The entire family was dismissive of feelings of suffering, and when Miss A. was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia as a young adult, she found little support from her family, who remained her main social contacts. She had been deeply hurt by her father's focus on himself and the physical beauty of her sisters, and lacked confidence that she could be attractive to a man. In preparation for EMDR treatment, Miss A. could not find a safe place no matter what we tried, and the light stream and other relaxation exercises failed to work. Nonetheless, we targeted numerous traumatic memories from her childhood using EMDR, and she progressed and made many positive changes in her life, including spending less time and energy taking care of her mother and father's emotional and physical well-being and feeling less guilty about taking care of her own needs. But somehow, the processing never went to complete adaptive resolution, with the SUD never going down below 3, and the positive cognition never going higher than 4 or 5 on the VoC scale, no matter what the target. We tried processing blocking beliefs, with the unfortunate looping of blocking beliefs that block processing of other blocking beliefs. We tried processing feeder memories, including early babyhood targets, but again to less than full resolution. I had discovered through the perinatal psychology literature that some clients' trauma starts in the womb when maternal anxiety is transmitted via adrenaline (and cortisol) transfer across the placenta to the fetus (producing the equivalent of a panic attack), and I had seen remarkable unblocking and successful deep processing (i.e., symptom resolution) in a number of clients with chronic anxiety, panic, sleep, eating and other disorders when we targeted this prenatal trauma. Miss A. and I found that this prenatal transplacental adrenaline transfer was indeed the tip of the root of her anxiety, and her sense of neither belonging nor being special, but none of the maneuvers I have been using for other clients. such as the "physical interweave", worked for Miss A. (see my website www.voc7.com for further elucidation of this and other techniques used) As I reviewed embryology, I noted that before 5 or 6 weeks gestational age, the placenta has not developed a connection between maternal and embryonic circulation that would allow for such transplacental transfer of the molecular mediators of the fight, flight or freeze response. Therefore, I decided to ask her if she would try to go back to the stage prior to placental connection; i.e., to less than 5 weeks gestational age. We started with the light stream exercise (which Miss A. never derives any relaxation from), in combination with computer-generated tactile alternating bilateral stimulation and some suggestions about going back to a time prior to trauma, when the primitive nervous system (we have a brain at end of the fourth week gestational age and about 125,000 neurons in total) presumably stored the experience. Within minutes, to her and my surprise, she experienced deep relaxation, and exclaimed, "This must be relaxation, which I have never experienced before!" Indeed, as a chronic pain sufferer, Miss A. has tried virtually every relaxation technique, including deep relaxation exercises, massage, physiotherapy, biofeedback, wax immersion and warm floatation baths, and yet nothing had ever worked. I encouraged her to stay in this new found state of relaxation for the entire appointment, and when I asked for a positive cognition halfway through, she said "I belong" and later, "I am important" with a VoC rating of 7 for each. I was astonished at the knowledge of self worth that she had accessed so quickly through this process. At the-time of writing, I have guided her back to that pre-traumatic experience 7 times: each time she is re-experiencing a profound sense of peace and well-being, and the positive cognitions remain completely valid to her. In terms of symptoms, we are seeing a generalizing effect: Miss A. is reporting new


http://www.voc7.com/

"This must be relaxation, which I have never

experienced before!"

behaviors that were previously outside of her repertoire due to anxiety, such as spontaneously calling on the neighbors for a visit, and feeling comfortable the whole time. She is reporting enjoying -for the first time in her life- activities, such as aquatic fitness, that are centered on self-care, not other-care. She reports feeling more rested and content with her life. She said the other day, "I think I'm happy!" and "I have been thinking about how I am getting all my needs met". These are extraordinary statements from this previously melancholic and pessimistic person.

I have tried this technique with other clients having them close their eyes and using alternating bilateral tactile and/or audio stimulation (using a "heartbeat” sound for the latter). I have found that most clients rapidly experience the same profound sense of equanimity and self-worth. Each reports the experience using their own frame of reference; thus, for example. some report a detailed “spiritual" experience while others report it being like a state of deep meditation or as a remarkable mental clarity. Some cannot get to this state of tranquility, but I have found that the pre-traumatic neural network storing this experience seems to have been activated whether they feeI it immediately or not. Therefore, when I encourage these clients to let whatever happens happen. I have observed profound unblocking in their healing process (such as the sudden de-repression and successful processing of memories containing blocking beliefs like "I deserve to be punished (and therefore not to heal") as if a higher level of self-has taken over and is driving their mind towards healing resolution. I have been experimenting with the use of this experience to enhance therapeutic results. I have used it with others in the same way as I have with Miss A: i.e ., simply assisting them to get to this mental state each appointment. I am seeing a generalized effect in each client that I do this with, with reports of positive shifts in day to day functioning occurring. In others, I have started with helping them to get deeply into this state to use it as a resource, as in Andrew Leeds work, and then suggest that they take this positive knowledge and feeling about themselves as we proceed into processing the next trauma targeted. I use Maureen Kitchur's Strategic Developmental Model©, targeting traumatic experiences chronologically. Some clients spontaneously move from the positive cognition (that comes up for them in the pre-traumatic state along a channel of memories that contain the corresponding negative cognition. processing rapidly and deeply as they go. Some people report a perfectly clear and logical frame of mind in which problem solving becomes straightforward and efficient. Others report a higher level of creative thinking.


I am describing this phenomenon as activating embryonic neural networks, and therefore, accessing embryonic memory, although there is no way to prove that such is actually the case. It could be argued cogently that what is happening in these clients is due entirely to suggestion. I am leaning towards the explanation that clients are, via suggestion, accessing embryonic neural networks containing actual memory (stored as feelings) with an overlay of adult interpretation of these feelings. The fact that Miss A. was not previously at all responsive to deep relaxation or hypnotic suggestion argue in favor of this conclusion. The fact that single neurons in vitro demonstrate the ability to record experience of stimuli makes plausible the idea that a developing human embryo whose brain and spinal cord contain around 125 thousand neurons can store experience. The idea that we start life with a primordial sense of our worth and power fits with evolutionary survival of the fittest, since the fittest are those with the highest realistic self-esteem. Our abusive or misguided upbringing and other negative experiences may result in a burial of this primordial authentic self under a deep layer of negative self conceptions. While these questions are being sorted out. I will continue to use this remarkable, powerful, and accessible resource because of the depth of healing that I am seeing in my clients. As is true for EMDR itself, knowledge of the mechanism IS not necessary for the achievement of extraordinary results.

The theories contained in this article are anecdotal in nature and have not been proven through research or controlled studies It is the intention of the EMDRIA Newsletter to provide a forum for discussing case studies and theories among EMDR clinicians. EMDRIA Newsletter Vol. 5 No. 3 September 2000

PRENATAL PRETRAUMATIC RESOURCE STATE


Many of us have been looking for a time or place with our clients before anything bad happened. A Pretraumatic Resource State. As you can imagine, for many people this turns out to be extremely early.

At about six weeks gestation, is when the placenta develops. After that, you are connected to your mother. Whatever she is experiencing, so are you. Whether she is happy or sad, drinking or smoking, afraid, excited or delighted, it comes across relatively unfiltered neurohormonally in the bloodstream. However, there is a window before that. Around four or five weeks gestation, you are already safely implanted in the womb. Your mother might not even know she is pregnant yet. You have about 100,000 neurons firing so there may be some registration of experience. In that time period, you could think of yourself as Safe and Separate. Not yet being impinged upon by the external world. As one person said,” Oh, this is before they got at me”. Another said, “This is like my whole true self, my essence”.

Consider what you’ve just heard and allow your system to tune to that place as you feel me tapping.Do a set of taps. Ask

What do you notice?

They may describe floating, a fetal scene, colour, safety. Might go to an early childhood memory. If positive, continue.

You can say something like

That was there then, it’s there now and it’s always going to be there.

If it shifts to tension or negative, you may be encountering the first prenatal target. Go back.

If you’ve done the adult Safe Place, you can say something like:

Good, now we have this at this end and (whatever the Adult Safe Place) at the other end and we can work to process whatever is in between.

Why Containment and Safe State instead of Safe/Calm Place?Katie O’Shea, MS


Approximately 25% of my clients had difficulties with Safe Place. These were particularly clients who had lived in pervasively dangerous environments. When they focused internally on an image, they became more anxious, because they were less capable of monitoring the external world. What is different from "Safe Place" is the here and now focus. With Safe State you don't risk connecting to a time that may become contaminated even if it works initially. I realized I didn't have a Safe Place image myself, after teaching EMDR for 10 years. When I tried to access one, I couldn't, knowing from my own life experiences, plus those of my clients, that trauma can occur anywhere. The best we can do is feel safe when we are safe, and bodies know how to do that. So we don't need a relaxation technique, which is what Safe Place is, like taking a deep breath, grounding yourself, and all the other methods I'd been trying to teach my clients for years. In a world where we learn of trauma occurring in more and more places that have been considered safe, I think it is going to become increasingly difficult for clients to accept the concept of a Safe Place. And the issue is safety, so calling it “Calm Place” still seems inadequate.

This is a two step process: Contain/Distract From -> Remind Yourself, “It’s OK to feel safe when I am safe”. First "let everything that needs to be reviewed, past, present and future, be set aside for now". Using the word, "let" instead of "put" is important because clients need to realize this is something their brain/bodies have the ability to do automatically, rather than their cortex needing to tell their body what to do. If practiced before going to bed, in the morning and every time they change activities for a couple of weeks, their body will get out of the habit of being continually on guard and into the habit of feeling safe when they are safe. It's a way to directly support our ability to keep material out of awareness unless it's needed or being reviewed. Adding, "for now" affirms the intent to review the material, so it is more easily contained.

Safe Place has been useful because:1. It provides an opportunity for clients to learn they can change their internal state.2. It provides an opportunity for the clinician to demonstrate the use of imagery and BLS.

Safe Place limitations:1. It is a relaxation technique.2. It requires the ability to use imagery.3. Safe/Calm places can also become associated with danger.4. Clients who have lived in a pervasively dangerous environment feel greater anxiety when they are focused internally because fewer resources remain for monitoring their external environment.

Safe State is beneficial because:1. It is an automatic state of being.2. It provides an opportunity for clients to learn their internal state can change automatically.3. It provides an opportunity for the clinician to demonstrate the use of BL

STEP 1 – SET ASIDE WHAT NEEDS TO BE REVIEWED USING A CONTAINER METHODSAMPLE SCRIPT


“There is a lot of material that needs to be reviewed, so we need to have a way to help set it aside until we can take it out a piece at a time and review it. Our brain stores everything seen, heard, tasted, touched, smelled, experienced in any way, until we can give it our full attention in order to unlearn what is not important and fully learn what is. We can help set information aside when we’re not focusing on it, by having an image of a place or container where it can be kept until it is fully reviewed. What comes to mind as a place where, whatever you still need to review can be stored until you can give it your full attention? It can be an image in your mind, or you can leave it with me in my container.” (pause for them to tell you what theirs looks like or their decision to leave it in yours, then say) “Now, just focus on it, and let everything that still needs to be reviewed, past, present or future, go into ( name the container ) FOR NOW, in whatever form it takes. Tell me when it’s all in, or if you’re having trouble.” (pause until they indicate it is all inside the container) “I’d like you to begin practicing using (name the container ) between now and our next appointment. You’ll get better and better at using it and may find you need it even more as you realize it’s safe to review these experiences. If the container changes or develops, just notice it and know you can trust the change.” Note: 1: Container should not be one they see frequently in day to day life, as it may be triggering, because the material is so ready to be cleared. An imaginary one is usually the least risky.2: Container should have a lock or lid or a method to keep material inside it. Ask if their description isn’t clear.3: Ego states should NOT be placed in a container. They need an imaginary “Safe Place” (O’Shea’s use) or “tuck them in” in a nurturing fashion, until the time is right” (Paulsen, 2009).TYPICAL PROBLEM SAMPLE SOLUTIONIf client can’t think of anything, the problem may be performance anxiety or trying

“Trying is the biggest problem, just think of needing to have a place and see what comes to mind.”“It’s like watching the Containment Channel on television. You don’t have to do anything, just watch. Your brain knows how to do it, so we just let it do what it knows how to do.”

If client says something won’t go into the container

“Are you TRYING to make it go in, or just looking at it, easily and effortlessly, to see what happens” or,“Ask yourself what’s the danger of letting it go in” “Ask yourself what’s keeping it from going in”

If some pieces won’t go in the container “Ask yourself what’s keeping the pieces from going in?” “Ask what they’re about.” Together decide when to review what they’re about. Write it in your treatment plan.

If it doesn’t feel safe to set troubling material aside

“Everything you need is always available. What’s being set aside is only what hasn’t yet been reviewed. You’ve already learned a lot from your experiences and anything you need is always available.”

If there is an urgency about the material “Something in your system is ready to be reprocessed, so you are REALLY ready to review it. It is important for us to pace the work so you stay comfortable. Together we can decide when is the best time to focus on it, now, next session or later.”

STEP 2 – SAFE STATE: AN AUTOMATIC RESOURCED STATE


POLYVAGAL THEORY - UNDERSTANDING THE PATH TO SAFETY - NEUROCEPTION

The Polyvagal Theory is a theory of three nervous systems, one sympathetic, and two parasympathetic developed by Stephen Porges (2001). The addition of the social engagement parasympathetic system, offers a new perspective and approach to modifying behavior. According to this theory, it is possible to intervene in compromised social behavior and modulate the autonomic state by engaging the nervous system. According to Stephen Porges “the perception of safety is the primary requirement for our intervention.”

Three Brain Systems

1. Immobilization System – Dorsal Vagal Shutdown. When activated, the environment is perceived as immediately life threatening, with no way out except to freeze. In this oldest and unmyelinated neurological system, the organism goes into a feigned death response, radically slowing the respiratory, digestive and cardiac systems. The only pathway out of dorsal vagal shutdown is through sympathetic arousal, the fight or flight response.

2. The Fight or Flight System. - Sympathetic System. When an organism is in the state of sympathetic arousal, the environment is perceived as dangerous. The sympathetic nervous system mobilizes for defensive response by increasing metabolic activity to achieve super-ordinary performance. At times of threat, the sympathetic system produces adrenaline and cortisol to increase cardiac output and facilitate the ability to fight off an aggressor or to flee a dangerous situation. If arousal is thwarted the unresolved energetic charge is held frozen in the body, and may be compartmentalized into a range of symptoms. When this state is activated as an organism is coming out of immobilization through sympathetic arousal, there can be high levels of disturbance.

3. Social Engagement System.-Ventral Vagal System. An organism in this state perceives the environment as safe. The Social Engagement System, a myelinated system, is the newest system. It likely came into being to provide for the attachment and nurturance requirements of the long infancy and childhood of the human. Through attachment and engagement, social relationships are established that provide for safety, for communicating distress in relationship with others, and learning opportunities through reinforcement. With social engagement, oxytocin (OT) is released to foster calm and connection. For example, the infant engages caretaker through facial expression and vocalization to create safety and bonding. It is theorized that successful psychotherapy typically involves the mutual engagement of the ventral vagal systems of both client and therapist. Moreover, early trauma processing to remediate attachment injuries necessitates the evocation of ventral vagal states in oscillation with traumatic states, whether shutdown or arousal.

- Lots of useful information is available at www.stephenporges.com - Zero to Three article is good for clients.

- www.brucelipton.com provides critical information about how our minds and bodies interact to protect us.

- Iain McGilchrist’s animation is the best explanation of why we have and need to connect our two brains.

STEP 2 – Feeling Safe When We Are SafeK. O’Shea, MS and M. Wilensky, PhD/ EMDR Europe 2014 11

http://www.brucelipton.com/

http://www.stephenporges.com/

SAMPLE SCRIPT: SAFE STATE - returning to an automatic resourced state

“Sometimes we may stay on guard even when we are actually safe. Our amygdala is on duty 24/7, asleep or awake, scanning every aspect of our environment, internal and external, with the ability to respond in half a millisecond, so we don’t need to be consciously vigilant. That’s exhausting and makes us less able to respond to danger when we need to. So, would it be okay to FEEL safe when you ARE safe, when nothing bad is happening, like right now? (pause for their answer. If “Yes” continue.) In order to feel safe when we are safe, we need to be sure that everything that still needs to be reviewed or sorted through is set aside in your/my (name the container ) . Just focus on your/my ( name the container ) . and let anything that still needs to be reviewed, past, present, or future, go into it for now. (When they confirm, continue). Your body already knows what to do. Just notice, with curiosity… how your body feels. It may have settled down on its own, but if it hasn’t, I’ll help your two brains connect and we’ll just see what happens. Is it okay if I tap your knees/ankles?”...“Just notice.” Continue BLS, checking in periodically, until they reach a state of relaxed awareness, our natural state when no danger is present. Say, “As you focus on what you’re feeling now, what word or words come to mind? I want you to have a way to quickly call back this feeling. Hold (the word/words) in mind while you focus on the feeling, and I’ll add more taps.” Tap for about 30 seconds, then ask,

“Did (say their word/words) stay or change?” If it stayed, ask them to practice it in order to get in the habit of feeling safe when they are safe. If it changed, add BLS until it stops changing/feels connected Then say:“It usually takes about 2 weeks of practice for our body to get out of the habit of being vigilant and into the habit of feeling relaxed and aware when there is no danger present. Remember, your amygdala is on duty 24/7. The body responds one million times faster than the conscious mind, so we are made to be relaxed and ready at all times. Instruct them to Contain and Resource: before sleep, upon awakening, and when they change activities. Give them the “Healthy Habits” handout.PROBLEM SOLUTIONEmotional distress comes up “Let that go in (container) for now. We’ll come back to it. Disturbance comes back repeatedly

“There is something that you are really ready to review, let’s decide together whether to focus on it today or next week, or later.” Use clinical judgment to determine whether it’s a readiness to proceed with reprocessing or a dissociative incapacity to distance from their felt sense.

If the client speaks of never relaxing, always being on alertOr says, “It’s stupid to ever feel safe”

Educate re: the amygdala and safety systems of fight, flight, freeze. Consider using animal examples. Refer them to Stephen Porges’ “Neuroception” article, and suggest they watch Bruce Lipton’s “Biology of Belief” videos on YouTube.

Client continues to be unable to experience a good, comfortable, or safe feeling

May have overlooked a dissociative disorder; use an ego state approach. CAUTION: Do not use this procedure with a highly dissociative client unless you are trained and experienced with treating dissociative disorders.

Healthy/Healing Habits

Our system is made to function on “automatic pilot” so we don’t have to think about/decide/remember to do routine things. Your mind/body/spirit has developed many habit patterns over your life. Some are helpful and


some are harmful. While we are “pruning” knowledge, physical responses and behaviors that are no longer useful, we want to enhance and incorporate helpful habits, which will create ongoing physical, emotional and spiritual health. Identify and practice what you need to do to care for yourself and others fully so that, when we complete reprocessing past, present and future experiences, you’ll continue to learn easily and naturally, needing a specialist only when trauma immobilizes you. We are also very “timely” creatures, so doing things at the same time every day is consistent with the way we function best. We need a balance of taking in energy (regenerating/input) and releasing energy (output). For example: sleeping and waking eating and activity work and play time alone and time with others

giving and receiving love, time, money/talents, attention, careInclude:

Relationships (time and energy, giving and receiving love/nurturance) Sleep/rest/renewalNourishment (food, food supplements, water/liquids) Physical activitiesWork/achievement (for money, volunteer, home maintenance/improvement)Play and Creativity (alone and with others) Spiritual activitiesEmotional release (experience both protective and pleasurable feelings) via imagination, and expression

Time of Day Experience Note: Let whatever still needs to be Re-Viewed go to your Container for now and Whatever parts need to catch up, go to their Safe Place,

so you can return to feeling Relaxed and Ready (safe when you are safe).

When you Say, “Everything I don’t need, can be tucked away for now.” Awaken When it’s all been set aside, say “____________________________”

to let your body return to feeling Relaxed and Ready.Remind yourself to let any distress that occurs or surfaces during the

day, be set aside (in your/my Container) until you can fully focus on it,

at your designated ReView Time or during a counseling session. During the day Each time you change activities:

Let whatever you can’t take care of at the moment, go into your Container.Then say the words that help your body return to being Relaxed and Ready.

Open your Container, Review-Release-Relearn/Repair what you need to (Re-View Time) (current & future/physical &emotional) via IMAGINATION, EFT, or _______.

Let whatever is unfinished go back to your Container and remind yourself “It’s OK to feel safe when I am safe”, with you r Relaxed and Ready

word(s).

Before sleep Be sure everything is set aside, then say the word(s) that take you back to feeling Relaxed and Ready. Notice how it feels for as long as you want.Remind yourself that you can ReView, Release and ReLearn/Repair everything safe to unlearn and learn alone, during your DREAMS.

If your Container, Safe Place or Safe words change, trust yourself and allow it to happen. It usually takes at least two weeks of consistent practice to make this a habit, so you can automatically be relaxed and aware, unless emotion is needed or something reminds you of a memory that still needs to be reviewed.

Container: ______________________________Safe Place_________________________________

Safe when I am safe (Relaxed and Ready): ___________________________________________


(from “1,2,3, Go; 1,2,3, Stop” by Katie O’Shea, explaining EMDR therapy to children.)

1. A PLACE FOR MEMORIES. We can’t learn about something if we’re thinking about a whole bunch of things at the same time. We need to put away everything else and concentrate on what we’re doing, right? Well, our brains are very good at putting things away when we’re not working on them, unless, there’s something we really need to pay attention to. To do this, we actually have two brains. Our Right Brain (or Right Hemisphere) holds all the information we’ve taken in about the world and ourselves until we can sort through it and decide what to keep and what we don’t need. When something harmful happens, it holds onto everything we saw, heard, tasted, touched, smelled, thought and felt until we can look back at it and figure out what was dangerous and what wasn’t. It works just like our body does when we eat and it decides what we need to keep us healthy and sends what we don’t need out the other end. Scientists call it “pruning” (like they do to trees) but we don’t really know where the information branches go when they’re “pruned”. What we do know is, what is important to keep, gets filed away in our Left Brain (specifically our Left Prefrontal Cortex), where it’s ready whenever we need it. Sometimes we need to help our Brain keep memories away until we can give them our full attention and see what’s important and what’s not. Some ways to do that are:

Remind ourselves that they can stay in our Right Brain, orMake an Imaginary Place for them, orSend them to me to keep here in my office.

Where are you going to KEEP whatever memories you still need to sort through, until you can RE-VIEW them, or we can do it together?

____________________________________________________


2. HELP YOUR AMYGDALA KEEP YOU SAFE AND READY. We have another part of our brain that checks out everything we see, hear, taste, touch, smell, everything that’s happening, even inside our bodies. Scientists named it the Amygdala. Its job is to make our body do whatever we need to, as fast as we need to do it, sometimes in half a milli-second. Do you know how long that is? And it’s doing its job, 24/7, day and night, every day of every year! Even when we’re asleep, it’s checking out everything that’s happening, so it can wake us up if we need to, or let us know when we need to turn over, pull the covers up, or anything else. It’s especially good at watching out for danger!

Sometimes our Amygdala shuts off or works too hard, making us feel like we need to hide or get away or fight back when we don’t need to. Then we can’t feel safe when we are safe. If that happens, we need to LET whatever is making us feel like something bad is happening when it isn’t, go back into our Place for Memories, and remind our Amygdala, “It’s OK to feel safe when we are safe”. Later we’ll find out what’s making you feel upset and together we’ll figure out what you need to be safe.

I’ll help you help your Amygdala by tuning in the “Feel Safe when I am Safe” channel inside you. Then I’ll tap back and forth (to help your Brain make connections like it does when you’re dreaming) until you feel safe, knowing your Amygdala will always make your body do what it needs to do as fast as it needs to be done. Next we’ll see what you can say to yourself to bring back that Safe and Ready feeling.

What I can say to remind my AMYDALA I can be RELAXED and READY:

________________________________________________________


Documents

Basic Principles - c.ymcdn.comc.ymcdn.com/.../2014_Conference_Handouts/EMDR_Eur… · Web viewWhen Calm/Safe Place Doesn’t Work EMDR Europe Katie O’Shea, M.S. June, 2014. Marshall