Dr. Kateryna Dukenski
Pennsylvania Licensed Psychologist in private practice in Media PA
EMDR
My approach to trauma treatment
I trained at the EMDR Institute established in 1987 by the originator of EMDR, Dr. Francene Shapiro. Since the completion of training in 2021, I have been successfully using EMDR (Eye Movement and Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy to treat single trauma such as accidents, natural disasters, etc. and complex trauma, including complex trauma from childhood, war victims, and other extended incidents of trauma. I have found it to be effective at reduction in the symptoms of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and a wide range of mental health problems such as panic attacks, anxiety, self-esteem issues, perfectionism, and many others. EMDR is an eight-step process in which the individual is asked to recall traumatic images while the therapist introduces side-to-side eye movement. I combine EMDR therapy with my psychoanalytic focus on the early childhood relational experiences, intrapsychic dynamics, attachment history and the power of therapeutic relationship. I also add the systemic lens (e.g. intergenerational trauma, family constellations), mindfulness techniques, shamanic practices, art therapy and body centered practices to my range of interventions when treating trauma.
What evidence is there that EMDR is a successful treatment?
“EMDR, has been increasingly recognized in recent years by the World Health Organization and in treatment guidelines as an effective, evidence-based treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)” (AMA 2023). There are now over nineteen controlled studies into EMDR, making it the most thoroughly researched method used in the treatment of trauma, and The American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, Department of Defense, Veteran’s Administration, insurance companies, and the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies recognize EMDR as an effective treatment for PTSD. For further information about EMDR, check out the websites: www.emdria.org or www.emdr.com. The following videos :
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/8TGaxpasdmw?feature=share
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnjEr7GVhLo
What is an EMDR session like?
EMDR utilizes the natural healing ability of your body. After a thorough assessment and development of a treatment plan, you will be asked specific questions about a particular disturbing memory. Eye movements, similar to those during REM sleep, will be recreated simply by asking you to watch the therapist's finger moving backwards and forwards across your visual field. The eye movements will last for a short while and then stop. You will then be asked to report back on the experiences you have had during each of these sets of eye movements. Experiences during a session may include changes in thoughts, images and feelings. With repeated sets of eye movements, the memory tends to change in such a way that it loses its painful intensity and simply becomes a neutral memory of an event in the past.
The results of successful trauma treatment
When working with trauma, my goal is to bring up your own ability to tolerate, witness and be mindful of what is happening in your brain in response to the past event (or series of the events) so a wider range of responses to the same old trigger becomes possible. You can expect to broaden your range of sensations, reactions, emotions, perspectives and thoughts about the negative event/s. Most importantly, you replace beliefs about yourself with the ones that serve you better. My patients who successfully reprocessed trauma claimed their lives back, re-told their story and found a new broader meaning to what felt unaccepted or unwanted in themselves. EMDR helps create the connections between the brain’s memory networks, enabling our brain to process the traumatic memory. In fact, research showed that people who processed trauma presented with greater spontaneity and were more open to joy, creativity and taking healthy risks in their lives.
Will I remain in control and conscious of my experience of the EMDR?
During EMDR treatment, you will remain in control, fully alert and wide-awake. This is not a form of hypnosis and you can stop the process at any time. Throughout the session, the therapist will support and facilitate your own self-healing and intervene as little as possible. Reprocessing is usually experienced as something that happens spontaneously and comes from the person’s mind (not therapist). As a result, most people experience EMDR as being a natural and empowering therapy.