Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) for Traumatized Young Women

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a therapeutic approach designed to treat individuals who are dealing with the aftermath of a traumatic life event, including children exposed to violence. The approach is guided by the adaptive information processing model. As the brain slowly processes memories of everyday life experiences, these memories are transferred to the left cerebral cortex, where they are filed away with other neutral memories, becoming part of an individual’s life story. Traumatic experiences, however, are often highly emotionally charged and can overwhelm the brain’s capacity to process information. Instead of being properly connected and stored with other memories, episodic memory of traumatic experiences may be indefinitely stored in the limbic system. Dysfunctionally stored traumatic memories can in turn lead to maladaptive coping strategies and cause intense anxiety and other symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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