EMDR and APPLIED KINESIOLOGY
by
Richard Meldener DC.
Diplomate of the ICAK
International College of Applied Kinesiology, Rome, Italy, March 19-22 2004
ABSTRACT
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an effective clinical procedure
used in psychotherapy. It facilitates psychological treatments . I have observed it can also
facilitate the treatment of physical disorders.
I
EMDR DEFINITION
EMDR is a psychotherapeutic approach which enhances classical psychotherapy. It was
developed by Francine Shapiro for the treatment of people with post traumatic stress disorders
(PTSD). Survivors of sex abuse, crime and combat as well as sufferers of phobias and a
variety of other experientially based disorders.
II
EMDR HISTORY
EMDR was discovered in Spring 1987 by a chance observation by Francine Shapiro PhD :
« While walking one day, I noticed that some disturbing thoughts I was having suddenly
disappeared… . I started to pay very close attention to what was going on. I noticed that
when disturbing thoughts came into my mind, my eyes spontaneously started moving very
rapidly back and forth in an upgrade diagonal. When I brought these thoughts back to mind,
they were not as upsetting or as valid as before … their negative charge was greatly reduced.
I started making the eye movements deliberately while concentrating on a variety of
disturbing thoughts and memories, and I found that these thoughts also disappeared and lost
their charge…»
Shapiro discovered the desensitizing effects of spontaneous repeated eye movements when
combined with traumatic and stressfull related thoughts : images, beliefs, emotions, physical
responses and increased awareness.
III
Francine SHAPIRO
Francine Shapiro has a PhD in psychology. Since 1989, she has published many papers and
books on EMDR. Her major publication is « EMDR » (Reference 1). She is a Senior Research
Fellow at the Mental Research Institute of Palo Alto, California. She recieved the
Distinguished Scientific Achievement in Psychology Award by the California Psychological
Association.
VI
EMDR TREATMENT PROTOCOL
EMDR combines two different activities together :
1
1/
Memorisation of the trauma :
The patient is requested to think about the traumatic event . He/she concentrates on either the
entire traumatic event, or on the most upsetting aspect of the trauma or on the various aspects
of it. He/she enters into the memory of the trauma with each of his/her five senses.
2/
Eye movements
As the patient thinks about the traumatic event, he/she is instructed to do side to side eye
movements without head rotation. He/she is conducted in this eye exercise by watching the
operator’s swinging fingers. The operator swings his/her fingers from the patient’s left to the
patient’s right and vice versa. The operator’s swinging right hand and fingers should be 12 to
14 inches away from the patient’s face. This eye exercise starts slowly and speeds up to the
maximum comfortable speed. This eye movement activity should not create any pain, dryness
or anxiety. If it does, eye movement directions and/or speed are adapted to the patient’s
convenience. For example the eye movement can be changed and go from lower left to upper
right and from upper right to lower left.
The first set of eye swings consists of 24 bidirectional movements. Sometimes up to 36
bidirectional movements are necessary to help the Post Traumatic Stress .
IV
EMDR THEORY : The information processing model
In EMDR when the patient brings up the memory of the trauma this seems to establish a link
between consciousness and the brain memory storage site.
Shapiro advances the concept that PTSD are caused by disturbing information stored in the
nervous system. She uses EMDR to produce an altered brain state to modify the behavior of
the information processing system.
Neurobiological investigators still have not provided a definitive explanation for EMDR. A
number of physiological studies are being carried out and theoretical suggestions have been
put forth to link the effect of EMDR to REM sleep, dual attention and/or bihemispheric
activity.
V
CONTROLLED STUDIES
Various publications have validated the efficiency of EMDR both in civilian studies
(Reference 2 to 15) and in studies of combat veterans (Reference 16 to 23).
VII
EMDR and APPLIED KINESIOLOGY
A/
MY WORKING HYPOTHESIS
My working hypothesis has been : if EMDR facilitates psychotherapy. EMDR should also
facilitate the treatment of physical disorders and be approached using Applied Kinesiology
(AK).
B/
EMDR and APPLIED KINESIOLOGY
Instead of combining psychotherapy and eye movement, I have combined :
Stimulation of the physical disorders and
eye movements as introduced by Shapiro.
For example if a patient complains about his right knee following a ski accident, I treat the
right knee as usual. I then apply the EMDR procedure. I have the patient stimulate his/her
injured right knee and combine the knee stimulation with eye movement as discussed
paragraph V/2. Stimulation of the knee can be done either by tapping it, or moving it or
Therapy Localizing it, or even better, all 3 stimulations together..
Another example would be a patient complaining about digestive disorders . First I treat his
gut as usual. Then I have him/her stimulate the gut by either therapy localization to the gut or
to some gut-related reflex such as a neurolymphatic reflex or by ingestion of food known to
stress the gut. This gut stimulation is combined with eye movements discussed paragraph V/2.
2
I have observed manual muscle testing normalisation after using this protocol as well as
elimination of acute neurolymphatic reflex pain .
C/
WHEN DO I USE EMDR ?
I have used it in the following sequence :
1/ Usual treatment first
2/ Pain control if necessary
3/ EMDR
I have sometimes used EMDR on the emotional side of traumas as Shapiro recommends : eye
movements + discussion of various facets of the trauma. I have done this only in situations
that are easy to handle. In deep psychological and emotional Post Traumatic Stress
Disorders, I stay away from discussing the issue which I might not be able to handle.
CONCLUSION
The efficiency of EMDR on emotional disorders has been demonstrated and validated by
numerous authors. I have adapted EMDR and applied it to physical disorders. I have found
EMDR to speed up recovery time and prevent the discorder from recurring.
DISCUSSION
I have only used 24 bidirectional eye movements (sometimes up to 36) EMDR procedure
once or twice per physical discorder treated. I have not used Dr Shapiro’s routine. It consists
of repeating multiple 24 bidirectional eye mouvements. This is done while discussing
multiple aspects of trauma-related disturbing thoughts and memories.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. EMDR, Eye Movements Desensitization and Reprocessing, Basic Principles,
Protocols and Procedures, 2001, Guilford Press, NY, www.guilford.com.
Civilian studies
2. Chemtob, Nakashima, Hamada, and Carlson. 2002. Brief treatment for elementary
school children with disaster related PTSD. A field study, Journal of Clinical
Psychology, 58, 99-112
3. Devilly
and Spence, 1999. The relative efficacy and treatment distress of
EMDR and a cognitive behavioral trauma treatment protocol in the amelioration of
posttraumatic stress discorder . Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 13,131-157
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survivors of childhood sex abuse , Social Work Research, 23, 103-116
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traumatic stress : A community based study of EMDR and prolonged exposure,
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