EMDR For Victims of Severe Trauma, Processing of Grief

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EMDR: the mystery cure

Three 90-minute EMDR sessions is a blip compared to the years of psychotherapy many traumatized patients undergo

(Oct. 4, 2001) A simple approach to treating trauma has had spectacular results in the wake of tragedies in Oklahoma, Bosnia and Littleton. Will EMDR help in New York?

Dr. Uri Bergmann has heard some horrific stories lately. Several of his therapy patients had worked for the Port Authority, on the 69th floor of World Trade Center 1, and their memories of Sept. 11 are gruesome.

"They saw bodies flying out of the building, and the second airplane hit the south tower," Bergmann says. "By the time they got down those 60 flights of stairs and walked into the plaza, they had walked into a living hell. Several people remember someone who was standing there in the lobby, directing people to exits; they saw something, a piece of glass, fall from the ceiling and cut him in half. They saw bodies and body parts, and remember the smell of burning flesh. When they got out of the building, the second tower came down and the debris -- steel and glass -- was flying for blocks at 300 miles an hour. They had to run, because people were being decapitated."

These survivors became zombies. They didn't sleep; they drank alcohol and swallowed tranquilizers. They were afraid to come back into the city. By the time they contacted Bergmann, seeking help, they were barely functioning at all.

On Monday, three weeks after the attack, Bergmann cured his first patient. He says it took him three 90-minute sessions -- thanks to a therapy protocol called EMDR.

EMDR -- or "Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing" -- has a certain hocus-pocus ring to it, particularly when suggested as the "cure" for a psychic bludgeoning; but in the decade since its discovery, EMDR has proven to be astonishingly effective at helping victims of severe trauma. A process that combines principles of neruoscience with elements of therapy, it is meant to facilitate the healthy processing of grief by using visual and audio stimulation to help patients talk about terrifying memories.

It looks quite simple, even simplistic, to the observer: A patient recalls memories of a traumatic event -- over and over -- while watching a doctor's fingers move back and forth, or while listening to repetitive sounds in a headset. That's it -- a drill that looks a bit like a nightclub hypnotism. Yet after just a few sessions, this methodology has helped the survivors of hugely traumatic events, including the Columbine school shootings, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Bosnian war and floods in Bangladesh.

In the months to come, it also could prove to be the most effective method of dealing with the psychological fallout of the Sept. 11 attacks.

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"We are facing a year's worth of work, as wave after wave of people recognize their debilitation and look for help," says Francine Shapiro, a senior research fellow at the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto, Calif., and the psychologist who discovered EMDR. "The grief you feel after someone's death is devastating initially, and should lessen over time. But many people will find that that isn't happening, and will find later in the year that they need help. We want to make sure we're available to help anyone who needs it."

In the weeks since the attacks, Bergmann has already had sessions with more than 20 survivors; some who escaped the World Trade Center buildings, others who witnessed the event from close range. In his sessions, Bergmann asks his patients to tell him their worst memories of the disaster as they watch his fingers move back and forth or listen to sounds. They also are told to focus on how they feel in their bodies.

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Source: Salon (Oct. 4, 2001), by Janelle Brown

EMDR: the mystery cure

Three 90-minute EMDR sessions is a blip compared to the years of psychotherapy many traumatized patients undergo

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