Are you confused about all the different treatment modalities for trauma?
There are many different treatment approaches for trauma. Are you curious which trauma treatment therapy may be right for you? You might have heard friends or acquaintances mention EMDR or ART to you but you don’t actually understand what that means. In this blogpost I’ll go over the acronyms and explain the meaning behind it, as well as introduce you to other trauma treatment therapies. Most therapists use different types of trauma treatment therapies and combine them in their treatment.
EMDR stands for
E = Eye
M= Movement
D = Desensitization
R = Reprocessing
But what does that actually mean in laymen terms?
1.Eye Movement is a way to access distressing memories in the brain. But EMDR doesn’t necessarily need to use eye movements, the therapist could also use other bilateral stimulation.
Bilateral stimulation means that your brain is being stimulated through either visual, auditory, or tactile rhythmic left-right patterns. For example the therapist could sit across from you and move her hand from left to right in a straight line, instructing you to follow her hand with your eyes only. Which would result in your eyes moving rhythmically from left to right and right to left, back and forth.
2. Desensitization means that you will slowly become more comfortable recalling the distressing event by exposing yourself to the memory, which will decrease the emotional charge.
3. Reprocessing means that you will process the negative emotions connected to the distressing event and the memory of the event will then be stored and linked with positive emotions.
So to sum up, through EMDR unprocessed (unhealed) memories are being accessed with bilateral stimulation. Those unhealed memories will then be worked through, as well as the emotions and sensation connected to those memories. The memories will then be stored with more positive emotions, resulting in less flashbacks. At least that is the hypothesis, it has not been scientifically proven that this is how it really works, as is stated on the EMDR website.
More Trauma Treatment Approaches
ART stands for
A = Accelerated
R = Resolution
T = Therapy
Accelerated Resolution Therapy is another trauma treatment therapy that uses bilateral stimulation to help process emotions connected to traumatic memories, but in a more accelerated way than EMDR. It often only takes 1-5 ART sessions to find relief from symptoms, as stated on the ART international website.
Exposure therapy or Prolonged Exposure is another commonly used trauma therapy. The client will have to recall the traumatic experience and describe the details of it until the negative emotions fade, and until the memory becomes more tolerable.
CPT = Cognitive Processing Therapy is another modality, that uses a combination of CBT and Exposure Therapy, by having the client recall the traumatic incident and the unhelpful beliefs associated with that memory. The goal is that the client creates a new understanding of the traumatic experience.
There are many more approaches to treating trauma, there is no one size fits all. Everyone responds to trauma differently. You might have already tried different approaches and know what works and doesn’t work for you. If you are knew to therapy, you might want to explore your story with your therapist to find out if you’ve experienced trauma in your life. If you want to learn more about trauma and the different subtypes, you can read my blogpost on it here.
