EMDR protocols for work and school bullying

Among many Psychology Associations throughout the world, the EMDR therapy is being recognised for treating, not only PTSD but, also many other mental health conditions. Work and School Bullying, a very prominent issue in our societies, have been treated with different Psychology approaches, but EMDR is still unknown in this field. We have been working for the last 5 years with this population with amazing results.The EMDR Basic and Complex Protocols for BULLYING have been designed to help clients who have been victims of emotional trauma to recover from the damage this bullying has produced in their psychological resilience and self-esteem. The psychological reaction to this trauma can be an intensive fear, development of psychosomatic reactions, dysfunctional reactions of flight, helplessness and collapse as a result of becoming victims of psychological and emotional abuse. These reactions are the consequence of developing a Postraumatic Stress Reaction to the Bullying Process. Victims of BULLYING at the workplace and at school suffer continuous and deliberate harassment, emotional and psychological abuse, relational complex trauma. The correct diagnosis of Work/School Bullying damage as victimization and complex trauma processes, is Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. Normally chronic PTSD. At school, the victim will become an stigmatised child who has to cope not only with the perpetrator but also with a gang of perpetrators, who become a mass of people working against the victim who has very little possibilities of assertive confrontation or defence. At work, the victim, is normally a very valid, effective worker, with high skills, that for one reason or another, becomes someone to be feared of for the perpetrator , who will try to eliminate him with psychological harassment. (PH ) In both cases PH is known in Social/Antropology Psychology as a Scapegoat mechanism. This mechanism shows how a group in crisis, eliminates the victim by making him responsible for every problem which affects this social group, and therefore deserves the PH. In many occasions the EMDR work with victims of PH takes place when the victim has been already expelled, eliminated or excluded from the school/workplace and we have to rehabilitate her psychologically. In other cases harassment is still taking place and we face an ongoing trauma which complicates EMDR Treatment. It is not easy to warrant the victim’s protection and in these cases, victims continue suffering in different degrees of abuse, emotional and PH while undergoing EMDR therapy. An essential part of these Protocols is based in re-establishing the Positive Cognition (that has been erased by this process) about the victims’ innocence and the internal affirmation of not deserving this harassment.

Conference

English

Maria Cervera

Cervera, M. (2017, April). EMDR protocols for work and school bullying. In EMDR case studies, EMDR in the treatment of fears and phobias (Mrinalini Purandare, Chair). Presentation at the 3rd EMDR Asia International Conference, Shanghai, China