Breaking the cycle: EMDR therapy solutions for problematic anger, acting out and addictive behaviors
Description
Topic-informed EMDR offers a unique potential to more effectively treat clients presenting with problematic anger, hostility and a range of related behaviors across a spectrum of severity. Relevant client issues include temper outbursts; an array of chronic or occasional hostile interactions with others such as verbal aggression, intimate partner abuse, angry parenting, and bullying; anger avoidance; revenge obsessions, ideologically based hostility and prejudice; and the common struggles with anger for combat veterans and first responders.This presentation will teach practical strategies and special considerations for a successfully tailored use of the 8-Phase EMDR treatment approach. Key points will be illuminated with case examples including clips from video-taped clinical sessions. Useful knowledge from the field of anger management and violence prevention will be integrated to create a customized EMDR treatment approach which surpasses the capacity of mainstream non-EMDR interventions.
This presentation will identify EMDR interventions that are also applicable to other problematic behaviors. Protocols, tools and strategies taught will include a depiction of the Cycle Model cycle model for assessment, trigger identification and target selection; a metaphor-based guide to case formulation; ways to enhance client engagement and motivation; topic-related stabilization and preparation techniques; ways to transform abusive power and controlling behaviors; compassionate confrontation; emotional funneling and affect regulation; symptom-focused targeting strategies including inverted protocols; the use of restricted processing for current triggers; solution scripting, strategic skill building, and a protocol for addressing prejudice and hostile attitudes.
Violent behavior is typically a trauma reenactment and reprocessing strategies can aid clients in undoing the maladaptive template driving many to “make others feel the way I felt,” as one client said. When a client is “doing unto others what was done to them,” trauma-informed intervention offers realistic hope for true transformation and behavioral change.
This presentation will identify EMDR interventions that are also applicable to other problematic behaviors. Protocols, tools and strategies taught will include a depiction of the Cycle Model cycle model for assessment, trigger identification and target selection; a metaphor-based guide to case formulation; ways to enhance client engagement and motivation; topic-related stabilization and preparation techniques; ways to transform abusive power and controlling behaviors; compassionate confrontation; emotional funneling and affect regulation; symptom-focused targeting strategies including inverted protocols; the use of restricted processing for current triggers; solution scripting, strategic skill building, and a protocol for addressing prejudice and hostile attitudes.
Violent behavior is typically a trauma reenactment and reprocessing strategies can aid clients in undoing the maladaptive template driving many to “make others feel the way I felt,” as one client said. When a client is “doing unto others what was done to them,” trauma-informed intervention offers realistic hope for true transformation and behavioral change.
Format
Conference
Language
English
Original Work Citation
Nickerson, M. (2016, June). Breaking the cycle: EMDR therapy solutions for problematic anger, acting out and addictive behaviors. Preconference presentation at the at the 17th EMDR Europe Association Conference, The Hague
Citation
“Breaking the cycle: EMDR therapy solutions for problematic anger, acting out and addictive behaviors,” Francine Shapiro Library, accessed May 9, 2024, https://francineshapirolibrary.omeka.net/items/show/23854.