What is Bilateral Stimulation?
Bilateral stimulation is a core element of EMDR. It can be said to produce four main effects:
1. A relaxation effect, decreasing uncomfortable physiological arousal.
2. Increased attentional flexibility (you get unstuck from the ways you have been thinking about a problem or event in your life).
3. Distancing effect (the problem seems smaller and further away).
4. Elimination of or decreased worry.
The cascade of changes starts in the lower areas of the brain first, as a physiological response (e.g., decreased tension) then travels ‘up’ the brain leading to mental changes (e.g., decreased worry). Because this order works with how the brain normally processes information, the effects are often experienced more quickly and easily than with top-down strategies, such as talk therapy. So EMDR therapy, which uses bilateral stimulation, is bottom-up.
To get a little more scientific, bilateral stimulation leads to an increase in limbic processing along with decreased frontal activation. This is in line with the research that supports that bilateral stimulation fosters therapeutic reintegration of information.
Some ways bilateral stimulation can be used in EMDR therapy to transform the way you feel about memories are:
Following the therapist’s fingers or a lightbar
Audio stimulation with headsets
Tactile stimulation with handheld pulsators (buzzies)
Read more on EMDR here or on EMDR Canada’s website.
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