The integration of EMDR and body dialogue

This paper details the Body Dialogue process and the EMDR protocol for its use and presents two case studies that demonstrate this integrative technique. Recent studies show that trauma can profoundly affect the body. Many symptoms felt by individuals who have experienced trauma appear to be somatically based. Imprinted memories from 'big T' traumas and 'little t' traumas appear to have their origins sometimes decades before the body 'remembers'. When triggered by a present stimulus, these imprinted body memories recur and the body relives the past trauma. Most methods of trauma counselling and therapy address only the cognitive and emotional components of trauma, lacking the techniques that work directly with the physiological components of past traumatic incidents. The Body Dialogue technique (Stone J, Stone H, Stone S) offers a way to explore the psychological significance of sensations such as pain, motor impulses, muscular tension, trembling, breathing and heart rate. Since such somatic disturbances contain emotional and cognitive components, this dialogue process is able to identify and explore the deep psychological issues surrounding these imprinted body sensations and muscular reactions. The Body Dialogue process is integrated into the EMDR protocol (Shapiro, 2002) when the individual is confronted with body sensations. Having identified the issues (traumas) surrounding these sensations using the dialogue technique, the EMDR protocol is resumed. This enables the processing of the original trauma to occur as well as the instillation of a positive belief. During the therapeutic process using these two therapies, the therapist never has to touch the client.

Conference

English

Rosamond W. Nutting

Nutting, R. W. (2003, May). The integration of EMDR and body dialogue. Presentation at the 4th EMDR Europe Association Conference, Rome, Italy