Stabilization and self-regulation in EMDR therapy: Eastern-Western confluence

The Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) system is a mind-body-spiritual model that has found supportive evidence with the advances in neuroimaging and neuropsychology. The AIP is hypothesized to be resilient and naturally directed toward repair; but trauma, can and does compromise its ability to recover. When the situation is one of encapsulated trauma, employing the EMDR 8 phase protocol quickly resets the system; but, in cases of complex trauma, a more enriched preparation phase seems needed along with a movement back and forth from what has become to be known as resourcing and the trauma work. Unfortunately, resourcing has many faces and the question of length of same that is required is frequently subject to dispute. The questions are: “how much and how long is resourcing required” and “are there ways that one could better predict what is required and how better to do it?” Here in enters our eastern-western confluence popularized in western counties when US president Nixon began to recognize how important improved China relations could benefit the health of the world. Exposure to acupuncture, yin/yang and a variety of Chinese medical traditions combined with the American interest in muscle testing as an indicator of health in an individual began to morph into what is today known as energy psychology in general and thought field therapy in particular. This workshop will begin to demonstrate the usefulness of energy psychology in resourcing during the preparation phase of EMDR therapy and during other phases as needed. Examples will be given.

Conference

English

Sheila Bender

Bender, S. (2017, April). Stabilization and self-regulation in EMDR therapy: Eastern-Western confluence. In EMDR in various cultural contexts & special populations (Matthew Woo, Chair). Presentation at the 3rd EMDR Asia International Conference, Shanghai, China