EMDR Therapy: A Powerful Treatment for Phobias by Kendra DeFrank, MA, LCPC
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an evidence-based method for treating trauma-based issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, EMDR is a versatile therapy that extends well beyond one diagnosis. It can effectively treat a wide range of mental health conditions, including phobias.
What is a phobia?
A phobia is more than a regular fear. It is an intense, irrational, and persistent fear of specific objects, situations, or experiences. It's a type of anxiety disorder where the fear is out of proportion to any actual danger. People with phobias often try to avoid the thing they fear. When it cannot be avoided, they experience great distress when faced with it. The avoidance, fear, and anxiety can cause significant disruption to a person’s work, relationships, or general functioning. When confronted with a phobia, individuals may experience dizziness, shortness of breath, feelings of panic, increased heart rate, nausea, and other anxiety symptoms.
How does a Phobia Develop?
Phobias often stem from traumatic experiences, adverse life events, or negative associations. A phobic reaction is always based on past experiences. When we go through negative experiences, our bodies (limbic systems) are designed to identify aspects of these experiences as threats. Let’s look at some examples. Let’s say you got bit by a dog as a child and notice as an adult you are fearful of all dogs. Your limbic system has recognized dogs as a threat and is responding accordingly. When this part of the brain has a fear response it overrides the logical part of your brain that knows you are safe (prefrontal cortex). This same fear response can develop in regards to so many adverse experiences, such as spiders, storms, water, dentists, needles, blood, heights, airplanes, enclosed spaces, vomiting, etc. Really the list is endless. If you can have a negative experience with an object, situation, or experience, you can have a phobia develop. By recognizing the deep connection between past experiences and current fears, mental health professionals can effectively alleviate phobic reactions using EMDR therapy.
EMDR therapy is unique in its approach to treating phobias. It focuses on the memories that fuel the fear. Unlike exposure therapies that tackle the fear head-on, EMDR works to change how these memories affect you. Therapists can target the memory networks associated with these fears and reprocess the past memory, which allows clients to separate the past from the present and reduce the current emotional distress. The therapy process involves pinpointing specific memories related to the phobia. These can include the first encounter with the phobia, the most distressing experience related to it, or sometimes the most recent encounter. In EMDR, you don't just recall these memories; you reprocess them. This involves recalling the memory while the therapist directs your eye movements (bilateral stimulation). These eye movements allow the therapist to help the client understand and reprocess the source of the phobia and rewire the brain to have a more adaptive response. As the therapy progresses, the distressing memories lose their emotional charge. This is not about forgetting or erasing memories, but rather about reframing them in a way that reduces their power to trigger fear responses. Let me give you another example, this time with how EMDR helped. I had a client once that had a phobia of flying. As we looked back at her past, numerous life events fueled her fear response. One being watching 9/11 footage on her TV as a child and other being in the airport hearing young adults say they were “gonna get bombed”. She came to me unable to fly at times and other times when she forced herself to she was on high alert for anyone who looked sinister. After reprocessing these memories, she was able to fly comfortably. She was able to feel sad about 9/11 and sad for her younger nine year old self that didn’t understand what she was seeing. She was even a little angry that she was not sheltered better from the footage. She was also able to find humor in the fact that these young guys were talking about getting bombed, as in drunk, but her young, already fearful, brain understood it differently. These past memories could have been the catalyst for a life long fear of flying and endless trips she lost out on, but thankfully due to EMDR her story ended differently.
Is an intense, irrational fear holding you back? Seeking professional help is the first step. A trained EMDR therapist can help design a therapy plan for your specific needs. This therapy could be the key to overcoming your fears and reclaiming control over your life.
To learn more or connect with someone from our team please reach out to Lotus Therapy Group at 708-552-7330 or email us at lotustherapygroup@gmail.com.
