Self esteem in addiction, proposition of a new protocol

This study is inspired by protocols applied in EMDR with children and G-TEP groups for diagnosis and therapeutic retreatment. For this reason, I allow myself to invent a protocol and apply it on adolescents or adult drug addicts in my private clinic and in a rehabilitation center. Working and observing addicted subjects reflect a low self-esteem which stimulates the appearance of addiction. This demands the treatment of the self-esteem and self-evaluation of the addicted subjects especially for those who have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) or depressive symptoms in order to reach better results in dealing with addiction. After employing standard and specific protocols in EMDR, I find it necessary to work on self-esteem which can be problematic but is the center of therapeutic change and should not be neglected. If studies show that drawing is a diagnostic and therapeutic tool, observation and personal application show that self-drawing, with techniques used in EMDR (BLS), appears to be a therapeutic reprocessing tool. Thus, the images through drawing become a tool for reactivating negative events. In addition, the drawing of oneself seems to be an easy and indirect tool that opens the way to the positive and negative cognitions of the subject, while also allowing the usage of Socratic questioning, which is a cognitive approach applied through drawing. This considered therapeutic work allows activating, stimulating and retreating cognitions concerning oneself, the other and the surrounding. The therapist can activate and treat the past, present and future of the subject. This technique joins the basic techniques used in EMDR but this time through a semi-directed design by the therapist. The novelty lies in a protocol invented personally, inspired by the techniques used in EMDR and which combines drawing with the BLS for the purpose of reprocessing the subject’s self-esteem. This is a new protocol that is applied and influenced by standard and specialized protocols in EMDR. We aim for the following objectives: - Check whether a change in the design causes a change of self-esteem. The evaluation is implemented according to specialized scales before and after the application of the Protocol.

Conference

English

Youssef Akoury

Akoury, Y. (2018, June). Self esteem in addiction, proposition of a new protocol. In EMDR In French speaking countries. Presentation at the 19th EMDR Europe Conference, Strasbourg, France