Written by: Julia Alisha Andre, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Often, when trauma survivors reach out to me, they usually already tried many different self-healing and psychotherapy approaches beforehand. However, nothing seemed to alleviate their symptoms enough, or some symptoms significantly improved, but others did not. While there is often some level of exhaustion and susceptibility within most trauma survivors, especially when reading "Healing in Days", I also often see this little hopeful and curious part in them that does not want to give up and instead wants to explore the latest treatment options.
What does "healing in days" look like?
In this context, I speak about "Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing"; EMDR will be the primary treatment element of an Intensive retreat. Five years ago, I still remember how difficult it was to introduce EMDR to my clients or when I talked enthusiastically about EMDR with my colleagues. They often had this facial expression, "Is this even real?", "Does this really work?". Happily, in recent years, there has been abundant evidence and scientific papers about the effectiveness, safety and working mechanism of EMDR. In case readers are unfamiliar with EMDR. EMDR connects the memory of a distressing life event into the "adaptive neural network." Many painful life events may not have been stored in the memory properly and are unprocessed or blocked. These traumatic memories may need some help to become processed. EMDR can help you with unblocking. A bad thing that happened a long time ago that has little power anymore.
So, I guess I am ready to introduce a more holistic model and shift away from the traditional weekly psychotherapy model of 50 mins per session in the context of trauma treatment. Therapy intensives are long sessions of several hours to full-day or multi-day treatment events. Rather than dealing with trauma and painful memories weekly, for months or possibly years, they can often work through many issues intensively and efficiently to get the healing and relief trauma survivors seek.
Let's debunk Five Myths about EMDR Intensive Treatment
1. Trauma therapy needs time between the sessions to obtain the best treatment effects.
Myth! Research shows that there is no need to prolong suffering. Intensive application of trauma-focused therapy seems well tolerated in patients with PTSD, enabling faster symptom reduction with similar, or even better, results while reducing the risk of stopping treatment prematurely. Learn more here and here.
2. Healing in days and its symptom improvement won't last when obtained in a short time.
Good news! This is also a myth! Twelve studies with PTSD populations assessed treatment maintenance by analyzing differences in outcome between post-treatment and follow-up. Follow-up times have varied, including 3, 4, 9, 15 months, and five years after treatment. See here for more.
3. Participating in intensive trauma therapy is unsafe because your body cannot handle it.
The opposite is actually true! Temporarily destabilizing memories that might come up may be minimized because any surface reactivity can be immediately addressed. Additionally, research shows that an intensive program using EMDR therapy is a potentially safe and effective treatment alternative for complex PTSD. Learn more here.
4. Your trauma has to be "big" to consider an EMDR Intensive Treatment option.
Myth! You can target a one-off highly traumatic event or some embedded memories of more minor or hidden traumas, which can be the basis of depression, anxiety, relationship challenges, phobias, fears, or performance issues. No one type of trauma is "worse" than another. The event's magnitude does not define traumatic memory but how the body processes and stores the memory. You can experience the same type of trauma—or even the same event—as someone else and have different reactions to it. If something hurts you, it hurts, and your natural emotional response is valid. In an EMDR intensive, we can address several types of traumas or even conduct a full story-clearing intensive.
5. Intensive trauma treatment programs are too expensive.
Again, luckily the opposite is true when comparing them with traditional weekly trauma therapy. Making progress in such a condensed format will eliminate the associated costs of living with the trauma symptoms, e.g., its effect on relationships, work, attachment, performance, etc. Learn more here.
The intensive therapy format may decrease treatment time because of time not spent: Checking in at the beginning of each session. We are addressing current crises and concerns. Focusing on stabilizing and coping skills the client will not need after trauma healing. Assisting the client in regaining composure at the end of the session. Learn more here.
And on top of that, in 2020, EMDR was announced as the most cost-effective trauma treatment, empirically validated and seen as highly effective in treating traumas.
To sum up, Intensive EMDR treatment is a quick, efficient, & effective healing approach that is well tolerated & represents a significant advance in psychotherapy delivery.
Healing is Possible! And prolonged or transgenerational suffering is unnecessary! Book a 20 mins free discovery call for an Intensive EMDR retreat here.
Dr. Julia A. Andre, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Julia Andre is a pioneer in transforming the traditional weekly trauma psychotherapy model into a highly successful intensive format in Asia, the so-called EMDR Intensives. As a result, healing in days becomes a real possibility, and clients can feel relief much faster than possibly being in therapy for months or years. The economic value and compelling scientific evidence promise a fundamental shift in trauma treatment. She has since dedicated her life to helping others heal their trauma wounds and educating fellow professionals in Asia about the Intensive treatment format—her mission: Healing is possible!
