EMDR pain control

Persistent pain is common in people who have experienced trauma; and persistent pain also leads to trauma responses. This workshop will focus on using the Pain Protocol (Grant and Threlfo, 2002), using a practical approach to clinical work with clients. The pain protocol is based on the Adaptive Information Processing model, (Shapiro 1995), and takes into account the overlap between the experience of pain and traumatic experiences. It is expected that participants not necessarily have experience of working specifically on pain using EMDR with clients. An increasing body of evidence suggests that using the EMDR Pain Protocol can be effective in three main ways: • Reducing the experience of pain; • Targeting pain memories; and • Overcoming the impact of pain on the individual. The application of the protocol assumes that it is possible to influence neurological pathways involved in maintaining persistent pain messages. The workshop will include a brief overview of research evidence and current clinical experience, and will primarily focus on practical applications. This will include working with imagery in specific ways relevant to working with people in pain; and discussion of case examples. At the end of the workshop, it is hoped that participants have increased confidence in working with people who have pain; having practiced elements of the protocol and discussed their implications for clinical practice.

Conference

English

Helen MacDonald

MacDonald, H. (2010, March). EMDR pain control. Presentation at the 8th EMDR Association UK & Ireland Annual Conference & AGM, Dublin, Ireland