Download There are too many psychological problems in our world, education

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
(EMDR)
Victor Soto
Abnormal Psychology
PSY 2300-003
Spring Semester 2012
TR: 8:30-9:45 AM
Room: N218
South Campus
SLCC
Professor Ingle
03/01/2011
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Abstract
PTSD can lead to a harsh life if left untreated, and even those who obtain treatment, not
all get well enough to live their lives comfortably. PTSD is caused by a strong traumatic
experience that affected the individual for a long period of time. Many develop this disorder by
not attending to treat it as soon as possible. Many others; despite getting treatment, just don’t get
well. There is though one thing they can do, and that is to keep trying. Sometimes clients are not
improving because they won’t follow up on therapy accordingly; they hold negative attitudes
towards their resentments and are not able to display their emotions effectively in order to look at
them from another angle.
A treatment well known for treating people with PTSD is EMDR or Eye Movement
Desensitization Reprocessing. This form of therapy includes different types of therapies
combined. It includes: Cognitive, behavioral, and body-centered therapy. This combination is
essential to adequately treat clients who suffer from PTSD. Clients are to be relaxed, listening to
certain tones, look at certain objects moving bilaterally, and even hand-hold a mechanism
designed to give different levels of buzzing sensations controlled by the therapist. The result is in
successfully allowing those areas in the brain that are being overworked by their disorder, to
reduce stress therefore feeling more relieved and calmly considering a more positive outlook on
their lives.
PTSD is not only a threat to veterans from the war, there are other factors that can relate
to this type of disorder. PTSD can be caused by several traumatic experiences including: rape,
domestic violence, child abuse, and can even develop symptoms by witnessing such events
happening to others. These are painful memories bottled up in our minds, people with this
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condition experience flashbacks; In other words they re-live the unwanted memories making
their lives difficult to normally function in society. Clients after going through several PET scans
to have their brain activity examined, and following up on EMDR therapy, an improvement has
been successful in certain parts of the brain that deal with emotions which were previously
shown to be overworked.
A very effective treatment which involves cognitive therapy is called Eye Movement
Desensitization and Reprocessing or (EMDR). It consists of bilateral eye stimulations which
help certain parts of the brain that deals with emotions to reorganize and desensitize their
thoughts that caused their PTSD by having a therapist asking questions. The insight given by the
therapist helps the client to look at their condition in a more positive way and the client can then
understand how to handle the emotions that triggers their flashbacks and undesirable thoughts.
In 1989, the first controlled studies investigating the treatment of PTSD were made
public. Francine Shapiro, founder of EMD, was walking in the park when all of a sudden she
experienced that by moving her eyes, her negative emotions towards her past memories seem to
diminish. She concluded that eye movements created a desensitizing effect. Apparently, she
realized that eye movement alone did not offer a therapeutic effect. That was when Shapiro
developed a procedure called (EMD), it included eye movement with a combination of a
cognitive component. The Cooper and Clum study compared flooding to standard care. They
reported moderate clinical effects after 6-14 sessions, with a 30% patient drop-out rate. “Since
the initial studies were published in 1989, hundreds of case studies have been published, and
there have been numerous controlled outcome studies. These studies have demonstrated
EMDR’s effectiveness in PTSD treatment and EMDR is now recognized as efficacious in the
treatment of PTSD” (EMDR Institute, 2011).
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Works Cited
EMDR Institute. (2011). EMDR Institute, Inc. Retrieved from www.emdr.com:
http://www.emdr.com/general-information/what-is-emdr/history-of-emdr.html
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What I Learned
I did a presentation in class about PTSD focusing on EMDR (Eye Movement
Desensitization Reprocessing) therapy. What I learned through research was that this type of
treatment was accidently discovered by a woman with the name of Francine Shapiro, she
concluded that by bilaterally moving our eyes while thinking of our stressors, the amount of
activity in the brain that caused stress is dramatically reduced.
Psychology courses are my favorite by far, it gives me a perception of life that can be
difficult to obtain if not surrounded by it. Social behavior specifically interests me a lot, I like to
learn and experiment how people react to certain situations of regular daily activities. I have
focused a great part of my life mainly in observing others for educational purposes of my own;
the findings are astonishing when my courses support some theories I’ve had.
I am the type of person who assumes more than others, I have been wrong and right many
times. There are multiple biases when looking for answers to experiments, for example, asking
someone a question that will indirectly answer my hypothesis could be disturbed if the subject is
even slightly aware of my intentions but fails to show his expressions. This type of bias keeps me
guessing if the subject is being honest, though I’m always skeptical.
There are too many psychological problems in our world, education is the key to make
ourselves and others become better persons. In this career journey that I am in, I have learned so
much about myself and others; I can’t wait to professionally start applying my knowledge into
the lives of others to make their lives better.