Trauma’s victims are often among the most vulnerable in society . . .
. . . especially when they include children.
When trauma occurs at a young age, children can face biological effects that change the way their brains are developing. This includes parts of the brain that are critical for processing emotions like trust, affect regulation, impulse control, and identity (amongst other things).
So as caregivers, we look for ways we can help kids feel safe so that they can learn to regulate their emotions and begin to heal.
One promising intervention might be group therapy for kids sharing similar traumatic experience.
A team led by Ignacio Jarero, PhD from the Latin American & Caribbean Foundation for Psychological Trauma Research out of Mexico City, Mexico, organized a psychological recovery camp for 34 children (18 boys, 16 girls) aged 9 through 14. All of the children had been victims of severe interpersonal violence, and a majority of them had been raped or sexually abused.
During the weeklong camp, the children received treatment comprised of multiple components. One component was a series of three group therapy sessions, lasting a total of 6 hours, based on the EMDR Integrative Group Treatment Protocol (EMDR-IGTP).
The camp staff worked with the children to help them explore traumatic memories in ways that would reduce emotional distress so they could appraise their meaning, and then integrate them into a coherent and positive identity.
They also combined emotion-focused and emotion regulation strategies as well as mindfulness into the daily activities (art, music, yoga, and storytelling were a few).
And finally, 6 weeks after the camp ended, the kids participated in “Journeys of Art and Internal Peace,” a day of recreation, art, and mindfulness activities meant to help them continue to heal by practicing inner communication, openness to others, and empathic socialization.
How did Dr. Jarero and his team know if their intervention was working?
They conducted three assessments: at the beginning of camp, two weeks after camp and within the week after attending the “Journeys” program. Using the Short PTSD Rating Interview (SPRINT) and the Child’s Reaction to Traumatic Events Scale (CRTES), the team asked children to report how they felt about their trauma.
Initially, 26 kids reported that the level of their trauma hadn’t yet reached a level of “0” during the group intervention, so the team provided them with additional EMDR (either during or within the two weeks following camp).
So what did the results show?
As they’d hoped, Dr. Jarero and his team found significant effects of the EMDR treatment. Plus, the follow up measurement showed that the effects were maintained over time.
One caveat here is that the researchers didn’t include a control group, which would have been helpful to show how beneficial this combination of interventions might be compared to others.
But it’s reassuring to see that researchers are looking at multifaceted treatment options, including EMDR, that show promise for children who have suffered violence. If you’re interested in reading more about this study, you can find it in the Journal of EMDR Practice and Research, Volume 7, Number 1, 2013.
If you want to learn more about EMDR, click here to check out our series on Rethinking Trauma.
For now, I’d like to know if you’ve ever used EMDR in your work with trauma.
Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
I have not used EMDR. I use Rapid Resolution Therapy developed by Jon Connelly, PhD, LCSW. The trauma piece has been very beneficial to my clients.
Raylene Stebbins, LPC
Please forgive if this is not the best place to post this on this NICABM site – it was the most appropriate place I could find within NICABM. I am a client researching methods of healing developmental and childhood trauma for myself. I am also a Career and Spiritual counsellor so I have a professional interest too. Meditation is a well established technique which brings much benefit to many people: I, myself, practice Mindfulness. However, we rarely hear evidence that contradicts this. There is a concerning and unsettling post going round Facebook…
It is a tragic story about a seemingly healthy 25yr old woman who became psychotic after attending an 11 day Vipassana Meditation retreat who later committed suicide. I am aware that Prof Franz Ruppert has written about psychosis being caused by the psyche becoming entangled with hidden historical family traumas. I would appreciate your comments on this tragic case and any other contra-indications for meditation.
I liked this article. This work they and we do is so important. For many victims its life saving. I’m happy we have tools to contribute
Shula
In the months after 9/11 with the help of colleagues experienced in working with children and trauma and some marvelous suggestions from folks at Sesame Street we designed a protocol using EMDR, finger puppets and drawing (and very little language) to bring to Afghanistan to use in orphanages and schools filled to over flowing with children left traumatized and alone as the Taliban retreated.
We worked in small groups with translators as the puppets led the children through exercises that included physical bilateral movement and placed one of the puppets into the hand of each child to care for when we left. The results were heartening. Combining group interaction, attachment and movement to EMDR principals truly reduced the effects of the trauma these children had experienced and they demonstrated improved spirit almost at once.
Needless to say, I gratefully continue to use and appreciate the abundance of brain research, EMDR, hypnosis, art and attachment theory embedded in mindful practice in my office here in California.
We are looking at the Gold Membership a few of us have purchased.
I am an O.T. interested in volunteering/working in the area of trauma not from war.
Does anyone know of a progressive program for trauma that is not veteran oriented?
I took the training with Francine Shapiro in 1991. It shocked me.. it worked for me with a memory of a near drowning at 5 years old in my training session with a participant who knew no more than I. In the following 23 yearrs, as a facilitator and Approved Consultant I have used it on virtually every type of issue, condition imaginable. I have learned many creative powerful ways to use this wonderful therapy and adapt it to the needs of the client.
My youngest client was a 3 year old who watched hunderds of teens run out of Columbine High School during the massacre in a nearby pparking lot. She was relieved of all of her symptoms in less than 3 hours. In a follow-up with her mother, she confirmed that the changes lasted at least in the following 6 months.
I don’t believe in EMDR. I know it works in the hands of a competent, caring therapist.
I am using EMDR since 2003. Last 7 years in treating Trauma after Heart Attack or other heart conditions in a heart rehabilitation clinic in Austria. A bit tricky is, that a flashback of a heart attack is experienced as heart attack. The medical tests showing no heart condition and the doctors don’t have an explanation. Most physicians don’t know anything about trauma or how to deal with it. Some knowledge about trauma would do them some good.
I trained in using EMDR and have found it to be very effective with a wide array of issues and especially effective for emotional regulation and trauma processing. In regards to children, I have been fortunate to train with Ana Gomez in using EMDR with children who have experienced trauma. Her trainings have been invaluable. I find that EMDR is an excellent modality that integrates many methodologies which I plan to continue integrating into my practice.
Yes I have had extra training on the use of EMDR with children.
i have been using EFT (emotional freedom technique, or meridian tapping) in my private practice for the past couple of years. i feel it is much more effective than talk therapy alone. major shifts and changes have happened in very short periods of time. EMDR is yet another energy psychology, and i feel also very effective, though it’s not a method i use. i believe that these energy psychology methods are coming into use more and more and that it’s a very positive thing.
After EMDR training in 2011 I’ve been using it almost daily with clients with trauma and have seen wonderful results. During EMDR I employ an emotion-focused approach, somatic tracking, validation, mindfulness (Siegel), and object-relations building perspective from a secure attachment place. I noticed EMDR has similar neuroscience as Rick Hansen’s HEAL approach. I’ve also implemented the adapted EMDR Feeling State Addiction Protocol with positive results for eating disorders, alcohol, relationship and sex addiction. One veteran soldier said, “this is the best therapy I ever had!” and referred other veteran/soldier buddies for therapy who have valued it as well for themselves and their families. It has helped the couples I work with to rebuild trust, and others with grief, anxiety, depression, and attachment development. I love it!
No – in beginning stages of learning about EMDR, but 25 years experience with kids and adults in my private practice. Having seen the lasting impact of trauma in the lives of adults, and also the way in which it warps normal development in childhood, I am increasingly curious about EMDR, and recently attended a seminar to learn more.
I have used EMDR for the past 15 months. My youngest client has been 3 years old. It has been very healing for several of my severely traumatized clients. Though you have to be more playful and creative with children, I am a believer in the life changing healing that can take place with EMDR therapy.
I have used EMDR in trauma treatment since finishing my Level II training in 2004. Was part of the initial staff of therapists working at the first low-cost sliding scale EMDR Clinic in NYC at The National Institute of the Psychotherapies, when it started in Oct., 2004. As part of that group for 4 years, saw clients in my office who were referred through the Clinic, had weekly group supervision and monthly professional development meetings. Worked with clients who had a wide range of trauma histories including developmental, childhood sexual and physical abuse, and single incident trauma. Found EMDR extremely effective, though not for everyone, and have gone on to incorporate other mind/body and energy psychology methods into my practice.
Good to find an expert who knows what he’s tailkng about!
I have used EMDR with clients of all ages for the last 7 years. It works amazingly well and often fairly quickly. As one person mentions it is very important to take a good history and also for the person to feel heard and understood before using the technique. Using visual, audible or kinesthetic bilateral stimulation, while helping a client revisit a peaceful memory, also works well and quickly for recovering from the effects of mild trauma and anxiety.
I would like to be trained in EMDR, so this is reinforcing my intention.
wonderfull work, remind me of the work done by Susana Roque Lopez and her work in Colombia : the EMDR camp for kids.
presented in UN track in EMDR Europe Conference in Geneva.
More to come!
Yes, very successfully. It was very Helpful after the Oklahoma City Bombing when the EMDR Network had its first Humanitarian Assistance Program here. The EMDR Network provided direct services and training to Oklahoma counselors. It operated under the very able leadership of Sandra Wilson, PhD. The therapist that came to Oklahoma to provide direct services were very skilled in therapy in general as well as application of EMDR. Over 200 hours in direct services were provided and as it was in my office I got to meet and know the therapists and see the powerful results they were getting. Bob Tinker PhD came down on several occasions and provided special services with EMDR for children. Two level I trainings and one level II training were provided to local counselors. I also experienced in the are firsthand for my own, around the bombing and it was very helpful. While EMDR is not the be-all and end-all of trauma treatment, it is a huge leap forward in the hands of competent clinicians.
I use it with college students at our University’s Counseling Center. I also use just the bilateral stimulation with clients who come in very anxious and it typically calms them down in less then 5 minutes.
As with most, if not all of this type of research, a one week or two week follow up is meaningless. Anyone who has been traumatized or works with people who have, knows that this is a lifelong challenge. I think it is rather irresponsible to perpetuate a myth of magical immediate change. The only way to glimpse if an intervention is working is to do a comprehensive longitudinal study, and those markers would undoubtably include how these individuals respond in their personal lives, not in the controlled environment of treatment staff.
Agree.
Yes I tried EMDR at one point and the result was nothing. If a person has been traumatized in a family of such dysfunction, give the teen some healing and they will function better for awhile until the harsh interactions beat them up again. Healing attachment and bonding does not happen over night. Yet every relationship created with safety and a two step will provide hope. Teach the family mindfulness and meditation, then they will indeed fish!!
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I had EMDR therapy with a very unskilled practitioner with very poor results! I think clinicians all need to remember that the most important issue in therapy of any kind is the caring connection between client and therapist! Refuge and kindness are what I needed, not to be managed or handled or fixed. I needed someone to truly hear me and understand what I’d been through, to be treated with compassion.
I had a very similar situation. If you don’t trust the guide, it doesn’t work!
Thank-you Lily for your vulnerability and sharing what you really needed. When I was diagnosed 4 yrs ago with PTSD, I too was looking for a safe and compassionate clinician to share my experience with.
I had suffered for years with this dis-ease of my psyche, and felt alone and isolated in my silence. I wanted a therapist that would really listen without judgment, and not remind me how long I had been telling myself the same story or repeating my patterns.
I carried a lot of guilt and shame and feeling of inadequacy for not being able to heal myself with modalities such as meditation, stronger faith in higher power, dance, walks in nature, music. The trauma from my childhood took place in relationship, I wanted & needed healing in relationship, not a treatment that would involve more alone time on my cushion meditating, or tapping, or journaling. All of those helped me to survive, but I wanted to thrive.
Yes, I agree wholeheartedly, 70 years old and still working on issues VALERIE
EMDR is the therapy I use to treat my clients. I have training in DBT, and Ego State Therapy, which are helpful used in conjunction with EMDR. So I find, personally, that having the right tools, treating people with trauma does not have to be draining or difficult. Of course, with developmental trauma, that results from early childhood abuse and neglect, all 8 steps of the EMDR protocol are absolutely essential. And with this population, Dialectical Behavior Therapy is a very helpful tool for this preparatory phase. Before we start waving our fingers, we need to have thorough history, and we need to stabilize the client, and we need to be able to be aware of ourselves in relation to the client. The early steps of EMDR involve creating trust and rapport and sufficient ego strength and resources so that the client is not unnecessarily traumatized by “therapy.” EMDR therapy is a powerful, wise tool, and any therapist who wants to treat the whole client should have it!
I’ve been a practicing EMDR therapist for a number of years, have been certified, am an Approved Consultant and facilitator in the EMDR HAP ( Humanitarian Assistance Program) trainings. EMDR is not a technique to be incorporated into your therapy, rather is an 8 phase approach to conceptualizing the issues/symptoms and treatment of the individual. Every client who comes in for therapy is treated from the EMDR model. I work with children as young as 2 through mature adults with a variety of symptoms and diagnoses.from Adjustment Disorders to Complex PTSD and Dissociative Disorders. I find it to be a very powerful and highly effective therapy and encourage anyone who works with trauma to become trained either through the Institute or HAP for non-profit providers.
EMDR is the best tool for trauma that I’ve ever used. I’ve trained imn ALOT of interventions, EMDR is the real deal. I love bodywork for interventions, I’m trained in Jin Shin Do..its just as god as Hakomi..but EMDR is the real deal. and sb used only by therapists.
I haven’t used EMDR with my clients, it is on my to do list in the near future, I have used EFT with my clients and had many great results with it. I feel that EMDR would be that extra tool that would be able to clear the trauma. Some of the comments with the EFT have been that as we do the tapping they seem to feel less and less connected to the feelings and emotions .
Joanie, I’m interested in your experience with EFT. I’m an EFT practitioner myself. I’m curious, when your clients comment they seem t feel less and less connected, do you perceive that as progress or as dissociation from their trauma? My clients with trauma find that EFT helps them over time to integrate their experiences without becoming triggered by the them. I’m interested in EMDR too, and feel they could be mutually useful. Has anyone else here used EFT and EMDR?
I am not a practitioner, but I regularly use EFT myself after learning the technique a couple of years ago. I cannot tell you how much this simple procedure has changed my life. Although I had “intellectually” become aware of my past trauma and triggers, it wasn’t until I started somatically releasing the emotions from my body as they came up that I experienced immediate and significant change in my life. I am very self aware and have known what my triggers and are tried to “talk” myself down from the trauma response when it occurs, to little effect. However, tapping on the trauma response whenever and wherever it comes up in my life, in the moment (without waiting for a scheduled therapy session) has produced nothing short of miraculous results. I have literally been able to not only calm the trauma response but eliminate the trigger altogether. After decades of obsessive thinking and retraumatizing myself when new triggers arise, I find that after tapping it is literally impossible for me to trigger my trauma response from the same stimuli. And the clearing sticks. It’s hard to describe but it’s like being in a whole new world where the previous threat is no longer a threat. It’s not about learning to manage a threat, it’s about not having the threat be a threat any longer. It’s like a toxic element is removed from the periodic table and doesn’t even exist in the physical world any longer. Additionally, my mind and focus feels clearer, more aware and able to problem solve with ease. It’s then I realize how much the somatic trauma was weighing down all my bodily functions. I do not even feel like the same person. I feel awake and alive. Also, I can easily recognize the triggered traumatic response in others, since I am no longer swimming in that sea of fight/flight/freeze confusion and pain. I’ve gotten to the point where I welcome new triggers because I know that clearing them is only a tapping session away. It’s become a joy to be triggered! “Yes!” I think, “I’m getting more sticky peanut butter out of the the jar!” As my “jar” gets clearer and clearer, life gets better and better. The only downside is realizing how reactive the rest of the world is and trying to find like-minded, like-hearted, like-bodied awake individuals to share life with. But as I change, I do attract more and more healthy people, situations and relationships into my life. As I said, I am very self aware and have been able to allow myself to fully go into the trauma response, even on my own, so as to clear it. I am a good “self guide.” But I don’t know that that is typical of most people. However, I believe if most people understood how clearing trauma somatically works, they would also welcome the process.
Wonderful! When you say ‘tapping,’ are your referring to bilateral stimulation, a la’ EMDR, or to tapping as in EFT / Gary Craig?
As I am reading her beautifully written comment about her journey, I am certain she is referring to Emotional Freedom Technique, Gary Craig and many others.
So well explained Amy. Thank you.
Amy, I enjoyed just reading about your journey! Do you have more information, have you written other pieces about this?
Unfortunately I never made it to the lectures (time difference); I would have wished you had at least a 12 hrs replay time for the ones on the other side of the world.
It all sounds interesting.
Kind regards
Katharina
I have utilized emdr with sexual and combat trauma with great results. I also just learned Accelerated Resolution Therapy(ART) which utilizes eye movements and image replacement therapy. I’ve experienced wonderful results with that intervention as well. ART has been especially helpful with my clients who continuously replay the ‘video’ of continuous images over and over in their mind. ART works with both the physiological AND images. I had worked with this one 12 yr old who had struggled with sleeping for years after a traumatic memory caused him to obsessively check his closet, windows, etc to make sure everything was locked. He needed his dad to lay with him nightly until he fell asleep and he could not sleep with the lights out either. In 45 minutes of ART therapy this all resolved. He looked at me wide eyed and stated ‘i don’t understand. I’ve never been able to talk about that memory without all that nervousness! I don’t feel anything! How does that work!’ I just told him the magic was all in his eye movements. Within about two weeks he was sleeping alone with the lights off. I’m a believer!
Mary, Please contact me via my e-mail address or by telephone Mobile # 717-350-8248]. Thank you. DJ
I attended one of Daniels workshops last year/earlier this year and he talked about emdr. I had some exposure and success with emdr so did the formal training and have been wowed by the results with many of my clients with substantial trauma.