These are a few articles on the power of EMDR, which is what Squeeze Hands TM is based from. It uses the same science, stimulating each side of the brain, to mimic our brain’s natural processing system. The best thing you can do for yourself is just try Squeeze Hands! What’d you have to lose?!
Five Benefits of Left/Right Brain Balance
EMDR: Science or Pseudoscience
The Science behind EMDR
https://virtualemdr.com/blog/the-science-behind-emdr-therapy
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Mental health problems are nothing more than demons trapped inside the human head. The best treatment is to let the demons out, literally, by drilling a hole through the skull and giving the demons a way to escape. At least this is what doctors once thought. |
Fast forward to the Information Age. For the first time in history, science has access to technologies that can peer into the functioning of the human brain on the tiniest of levels.
Using powerful new imaging techniques such as SPECT imaging scans and the fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) we have a newer and deeper understanding of our internal computer than ever before.
But as powerful as all this new brain scanning technology may be, the truth is that science is still trying to understand the mysteries of the human mind.
And while dozens of research studies prove that EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) therapy is an effective form of mental health treatment, researchers are still trying to how it affects the human brain.
They know it works, but why?
EMDR treatments work by helping users to reprocess thoughts and memories that may have been incompletely processed because of strong negative emotions or dissociation during a traumatic episode.
By using EMDR to change the pathways in the brain, patients can turn unhealthy and self-destructive thoughts into healthy and positive beliefs and behaviors that will better their lives.
Using an analogy to the human body, it is well-documented that when experiencing great danger or stress, the human body shuts down non-essential functions in order to allow blood to flow to the essential functions to help ensure the person’s survival.
Similarly, during periods of trauma and highly negative events, the human mind may shut down or shut off certain emotions, sensations and other thoughts in order to get back.
For example, a rape victim may only focus on doing what is necessary for her to survive the immediate trauma. Other thoughts, emotions and sensations are improperly stored in her mind without the necessary and normal processing. In particular, she may not have the opportunity to create the right associations for these memories, such as “I am not responsible for the rape” or “I am not a victim.”
EMDR treatments, like those offered by the Virtual EMDR System, afford the opportunity for patients to revisit and reprocess these incompletely-processed memories. This is why “reprocessing” is such an important part of EMDR. Patients can turn unhealthy and self-destructive thoughts into healthy and positive beliefs and behaviors that better serve their lives.
As one of the most researched psychotherapeutic treatments, EMDR has been studied among many groups of patients, including military veterans and victims of sexual assault. In some studies, more than 70% of subjects no longer
demonstrated their symptoms after as few as three sessions of EMDR. In a study of depressed people, EMDR therapy was found to be more effective than Prozac for long-term treatment. Clinical studies have even shown that EMDR helps patients heal or change problem behaviors in a fraction of the time required by other forms of therapy.
The United States Department of Defense in their mental health treatment guidelines for military veterans said that, “EMDR was placed in the “A” category as “strongly recommended” for the treatment of trauma.”
SO HOW DOES EMDR WORK?
Given the relatively young history of EMDR, there is not yet one consistent explanation for why the process works. Instead there are multiple theories that the scientific community commonly accepts as to why EMDR is such an effective form of therapy.
One of the most popular theories is that EMDR is linked to the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) that happens during sleep. REM helps the mind to file away memories during sleep, such that critical parts of the memory are processed and adequately stored in the appropriate areas of the brain.
EMDR therapy works to bring up REM-type cues, so that memories can be retrieved and processed, before being re-stored in the mind but with the desired associations.
The science behind EMDR is still evolving. However, even with our limited understanding today, EMDR is already well-established as an effective treatment approach for treating emotional and mental disorders, such as PTSD.
The Role of EMDR in Therapy
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3951033/
The Role of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy in Medicine: Addressing the Psychological and Physical Symptoms Stemming from Adverse Life Experiences
Abstract
Background:
A substantial body of research shows that adverse life experiences contribute to both psychological and biomedical pathology. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an empirically validated treatment for trauma, including such negative life experiences as commonly present in medical practice. The positive therapeutic outcomes rapidly achieved without homework or detailed description of the disturbing event offer the medical community an efficient treatment approach with a wide range of applications.
Methods:
All randomized studies and significant clinical reports related to EMDR therapy for treating the experiential basis of both psychological and somatic disorders are reviewed. Also reviewed are the recent studies evaluating the eye movement component of the therapy, which has been posited to contribute to the rapid improvement attributable to EMDR treatment.
Results:
Twenty-four randomized controlled trials support the positive effects of EMDR therapy in the treatment of emotional trauma and other adverse life experiences relevant to clinical practice. Seven of 10 studies reported EMDR therapy to be more rapid and/or more effective than trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy. Twelve randomized studies of the eye movement component noted rapid decreases in negative emotions and/or vividness of disturbing images, with an additional 8 reporting a variety of other memory effects. Numerous other evaluations document that EMDR therapy provides relief from a variety of somatic complaints.
Conclusion:
EMDR therapy provides physicians and other clinicians with an efficient approach to address psychological and physiologic symptoms stemming from adverse life experiences. Clinicians should therefore evaluate patients for experiential contributors to clinical manifestations.
Introduction
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR)1 is an empirically validated psychotherapy approach that medical personnel can employ to treat the sequelae of psychological trauma and other negative life experiences. Its ability to rapidly treat unprocessed memories of these adverse experiences has important implications for the medical community, as they appear to be the foundation for an array of clinical symptoms. Clinical applications of EMDR include a wide variety of psychological problems affecting patients and family members, as well as stress-induced physical disorders and medically unexplained symptoms. The frequent ability of EMDR to bring about substantial improvement in short periods of time has relevance to major current problems in medical practice such as increasing patient load and the cost of medical care. The therapy procedures can be used by qualified medical personnel to improve comfort levels and functionality in managing some of their most difficult cases in everyday practice.
EMDR therapy was introduced in 1989 with the publication of a randomized controlled trial (RCT)2evaluating its effects with trauma victims. The same year, the first RCTs on trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and psychodynamic therapy were published.3,4 In 2008, an Institute of Medicine report5 stated that more research was needed to determine the efficacy of EMDR, cognitive therapy, and pharmacotherapy in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); psychodynamic therapy and hypnotherapy were not considered because of the paucity of relevant evidence (one study each). However, since that time additional EMDR therapy RCTs with PTSD participants have been published, and this therapy is recommended as an effective treatment for trauma victims by numerous organizations, including the American Psychiatric Association,6 Department of Defense,7 and World Health Organization.8Although meta-analyses report comparable effect sizes for CBT and EMDR therapy9,10 and both are considered “highly efficacious in reducing PTSD symptoms,”10p225 there are significant differences between the two treatments. As noted in the World Health Organization’s 2013 Guidelines for the Management of Conditions That Are Specifically Related to Stress,8 whereas both therapies are recommended for PTSD treatment in children, adolescents, and adults, “Like CBT with a trauma focus, EMDR therapy aims to reduce subjective distress and strengthen adaptive cognitions related to the traumatic event. Unlike CBT with a trauma focus, EMDR does not involve a) detailed descriptions of the event, b) direct challenging of beliefs, c) extended exposure, or d) homework.”8p1
Twenty-nine RCTs have evaluated EMDR therapy as a trauma treatment. Excluding 4 RCTs determined by the International Society for Traumatic Stress Practice Guidelines Taskforce11 to have provided insufficient treatment doses, fidelity, or both, the remaining 25 studies have created a strong knowledge base. Twenty-four RCTs support the use of EMDR therapy with a wide range of trauma populations (see meta-analyses cited above for a comprehensive listing of most studies and critiques). Seven of 10 RCTs have indicated that EMDR therapy is more rapid or otherwise superior to CBT,12–19 and only 1 has reported superior effects for CBT on some measures.20 The latter is likewise the only RCT (of 25) to report a control condition superior to EMDR. Whereas the EMDR therapy involved only 8 standard sessions and no homework, the CBT treatment was vastly more complex and entailed 4 sessions of imaginal exposure (describing the trauma) and 4 sessions of therapist-assisted in vivo exposure (physically going to a disturbing location) plus approximately 50 hours of combined imaginal exposure and in vivo exposure homework. The EMDR therapy condition involved only 8 standard sessions and no homework. Of particular note with respect to general clinical practice is a study conducted at Kaiser Permanente21,22that reported that 100% of single-trauma victims and 77% of multiple-trauma victims no longer had PTSD after a mean of six 50-minute EMDR therapy sessions, demonstrating a large and significant pretreatment versus posttreatment effect size (Cohen’s δ = 1.74). This is consistent with 2 other RCTs that found that 84% to 90% of single-trauma victims no longer had PTSD after three 90-minute EMDR sessions.23–25Most recently, a study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health evaluated the effects of 8 sessions of EMDR therapy compared to 8 weeks of treatment with fluoxetine.26 EMDR was superior for the amelioration of both PTSD symptoms and depression. Upon termination of therapy, the EMDR group continued to improve, whereas the fluoxetine participants who had reported as asymptomatic at posttest again became symptomatic. At follow-up, 91% of the EMDR group no longer had PTSD, compared with 72% in the fluoxetine group.
EMDR therapy is an eight-phase treatment approach composed of standardized protocols and procedures. The eight phases and three-pronged protocol facilitate a comprehensive evaluation of the clinical picture, client preparation, and processing of a) past events that set the foundation for pathology, b) current disturbing situations, and c) future challenges (Table 1).27