Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing: Implementation and Utilization of EMDR as a Treatment for Trauma

摘要

Trauma is a pervasive global issue that affects both children and adults. It is officially defined in the most recent Diagnostic Manual as an event that threatens death or serious injury, and that elicits a response of fear, helplessness, or horror (American Psychiatric Association, 2002). Other respected definitions include a “sudden, unexpected, overwhelmingly intense emotional blow....[that] quickly becomes incorporated into the mind” (Terr, 1992, p. 8), and something that makes “both internal and external resources...inadequate to cope with external threat” (Van der Kolk, 1989, p. 393). Literature suggests that people who have experienced trauma may present with symptoms including depression, anxiety, insomnia, phobias, delayed development, difficulty maintaining social relationships, and personality disorders.