EMDR Therapy for Teenagers with Anxiety

Anxiety disorders are highly prevalent among teenagers.  According to the World Health Organisation (WHO, 2021), 1 in 7 young people suffer from a mental disorder globally.  Recent survey research also indicates that 1 in 7 teenagers experience a common mental health problem such as anxiety or depression in the UK too.  Over half of all mental health problems are found to be established by the age of 14, with 75% by the age of 24.  Factoring in the long-term consequences of unresolved anxiety during adolescence, studies suggest that it can significantly increase a persons chances of suffering from a life threatening illness, result in disability, negatively impact work, education, social and economic wellbeing, as well as hinder the ability to live a happy and fulfilling life.  

The good news however is that it’s never too late to receive help and recover; there are many effective ways to heal from persistent anxiety, be it as a teenager or adult.  

EMDR Therapy 

I include EMDR here because it is highly recommended for the treatment of anxiety caused by stressful or traumatic life experiences among children and teenagers.  Since its beginnings, it has emerged as one of the most effective modalities for treating anxiety disorders.  Following I describe to you EMDR, or what is also known as bilateral analysis and stimulation treatment, which belongs to a group of treatments called amygdala depotentiation/desensitising techniques.  

What is EMDR?

Eye movement desensitisation reprocessing is a psychotherapeutic technique that helps people to heal from mental, emotional, and physical distress that can occur from experiencing highly stressful, or traumatic events, by using eye movements whilst the person recalls aspects of a traumatic event.  Studies from fMRI scans have shown that distressing events create stimulation in mostly the right hemisphere of the brain, whilst normally processed memories are said to create lessor stimulation, albeit on both the left and right side of the brain.  Bilateral stimulation, such as moving your eyes from right to left whilst experiencing aspects of a stressful event, helps to fully process a traumatic memory as it should have been processed at the time, thus creating lasting change to the memory.  

Many studies as well as clinician accounts have highlighted that traditional talk or psychotherapeutic interventions take many years to assist clients to heal from traumatic  distress.  However, bilateral stimulation treatment has proven to be super effective and quick at healing past disturbing life experiences.  

How does EMDR work?

Following is a brief overview of the 13 key steps to help people heal from distress using EMDR:

1. Establishing the event you wish to have treated. 
2. Identifying a picture or image that represents the event.
3. Identifying your thoughts, emotions, sensations regarding the event.
4. Identifying your negative beliefs about the event.
5. Establishing how distressing the event is on a 0 to 10 scale.  
6. Facilitatinging a comfortable sitting position where you feel mentally, emotionally and physically relaxed prior to recalling a stressful memory.  
7. First round of eye movements using a pen, finger or tapping. 
8. Whilst applying bilateral stimulation, offering you psychological support to help you process the memory.
9. Calibration: interrupting the pattern and clearing your mental cache.
10. Hypnotic suggestion following the initial set of passes to help your unconscious mind effectively heal the trauma.  
11. Repeating the aforementioned steps until your distress level is 0.  
12. Applying left/right bilateral stimulation to instal a positive belief so your unconscious mind re-stores the memory in positive ways. 
13. Testing whether you have completely healed from the event.  

In summary, EMDR is an amygdala desensitising technique that involves using different variations of light pen/tapping movements and hypnotic suggestion to process traumatic memories or past stressful events. The key benefits of EMDR therapy include: 

• Heals distress in weeks or months rather than years
• Respects privacy so you can offer minimal details of the incident and still benefit from treatment
• Improves sleep and helps you to feel more connected to others
• Builds self-esteem and confidence and helps you to become independent, empowered and more effective in daily activities such as work or study
• Increases ability to bounce back from future setbacks and improves physical wellbeing

If you’d like to learn more about PTSD, EMDR therapy, or to discuss personalised treatment and support options, then please feel free to send me message to schedule a free consultation.   

Take care,

Sadaf