Towards the application of the EMDR 8-phase approach to athletes with sports trauma

Theory and research in the area of trauma and neurobiology have shown that the EMDR treatment approach is useful in the desensitization and reprocessing of distressful and/or traumatic memories. The purpose of this study was to evaluate if EMDR therapy could be successfully applied to athletes with sports trauma, since the underlying causes of performance limitations can often be found in past (traumatic) events that are triggered in present-day situations. This study seeks to evaluate the possibility of understanding and defining sports performance limitations as trauma-based and explore the possibility of applying EMDR, a new psychotherapeutic approach with proven efficacy to heal trauma, to athletes in order to enhance performance by healing sports trauma. Through a critical analysis of existing theory and research regarding trauma, treatment and the diverse applications of EMDR therapy are discussed and it is shown how athletes could benefit from processing past events with EMDR therapy in order to achieve performance enhancement.

Dissertation/Thesis

English

Esly R. Carvalho

Carvalho, E. R. (2012, Apr). Towards the application of the EMDR 8-phase approach to athletes with sports trauma. California Coast University, Santa Ana, CA