How can we safely do EMDR with young people with severe self-harm or are suicidal?

When young people self-harm significantly or are suicidal, they are at risk of serious injuries. This can make us cautious in providing trauma treatment. We attempt to stabilize them, however there can be so much chaos in their families that they never seem ready for EMDR. However, the traumatic memories are often related to their self-hatred, self-harming or suicidality. Not processing them with EMDR maintains their guilt and shame which they manage by self-harming, using drugs, alcohol or (sexual)violence and it becomes a Catch 22. In this brief presentation Arianne and Nienke will discuss how to assess the risk for a young person to start with EMDR, what is needed in preparation and how to set up the EMDR processing in a safe way. They will elaborate on Shapiro’s plateaus of processing to understand why symptoms may worsen after EMDR sessions, how to use this framework to understand why the client is stuck and which interweaves to use in which part of the processing. Through video material they will demonstrate how to handle abreactions and dissociation during EMDR by using for example EMDR 2.0 techniques and the body.

Conference

English

Arianne Struik
Nienke van Vliet

Struik, A., & van Vliet, N. (2024, March). How can we safely do EMDR with young people with severe self-harm or are suicidal?. Presentation at the 22nd EMDR UK Association Conference, York, UK