My Metaphor for How EMDR works - Bamboo Forest

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today's video, I'll share the bamboo forest metaphor that helps me to understand how EMDR or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing works.

I've just completed intensive training for EMDR, which is a body-based method that is used in mental health therapy.  Most notably, EMDR is used to process traumatic memories quickly -- particularly for people who are experiencing  PTSD.  But it turns out that most of the negative thoughts and emotions that we all have can be traced back to past unpleasant memories —even if they are not what you might consider traumatic.  And processing those memories with EMDR can help to eliminate the current negative thoughts and feelings too.  Because of this, EMDR can be used to treat a wide variety of mental health concerns including anxiety, depression, OCD, eating disorders, hoarding, and phobias -- just to name a few.  In addition, since EMDR helps to calm the body's stress reactions, it can help to deal with the symptoms of bipolar disorder, ADHD, schizophrenia, psychosis, etc. 

So, how does this work?  Well, EMDR relies heavily on your brain's ability to naturally process memories, thoughts, and emotions.  In this case, what does the term "process" mean?  I liken it to digesting food.  For example, say we have something terrible happen, like a car accident.  Some of us recognize that the incident was terrifying, but our brains process through it or digest it — and over time our emotional reaction becomes less and less.  But sometimes that incident gets stuck and the brain is too overwhelmed to be able to digest it, so even after time, when we go to access that memory, we have an intense emotional reaction just like we are reliving the accident all over again.  EMDR can help with that. 

Single Incident

Let's take that car accident example and I’ll share my metaphor with you. I think of an unprocessed memory like an invasive plant — like bamboo.  So, you have this bamboo plant that lives in your brain and every time you approach this plant (or think about the incident), you have a big emotional response.  EMDR helps your brain to work through the roots of the memory.  One root branch might be an image of the car approaching, another might be the sound, another might be the feelings you were having, or the thought that you were going to get really hurt.  Each of those is a branch of the root that your brain needs to work through in a safe way.  The eye movements or other forms of bilateral stimulation like audio beeps, hand buzzers, or tapping help you to feel emotionally safe and down-regulates or calms your nervous system as your mind works through each root branch.  Since the EMDR therapist stops you every 30 seconds or so to check in on what you are noticing, you can stay safely in the room with a trusted partner while your brain is working on breaking down that memory.  To access the memory, the therapist will call on you to bring up an image that represents the worst part of that memory, the emotions that you were feeling, and the negative thoughts that you were thinking about yourself. Once the brain has accessed the memory, you do bilateral stimulation (again eye movement, touch or sound) to help your brain work through the roots branches.  Frequently the therapist will ask what you are noticing.  Each time you notice anything new — like “I just remembered there was a specific song playing at the time” or “I am feeling a strange pain in my neck” that is evidence of your brain continuing to work through the roots of the memory.  Each time you stop, you’ve processed a bit more of that root until you get to the bottom of that branch of the root.  Then your brain will naturally switch to another branch for processing.  Sometimes this goes quickly — sometimes a single root branch will take months to process.   So, once your brain has processed every branch of the root system, the memory no longer has any support feeding it or holding it up and it will topple.  This means that when you reach back and access that memory, you will be able to remember it, but it will no longer be disturbing.  So, that is an example of a processing a single traumatic memory.   What about a

Negative belief

About yourself?  Something like “I am not lovable” or “I will never be safe.”  Well, these negative beliefs have probably been supported by a lot of events over the years.  For “I am not lovable” — maybe these are memories of how your parents treated you or memories of failed romances or memories of bullying when you were younger.  Each of these memories is a single bamboo stalk in a forest of plants that that supports this belief.  And sometimes within that forest, there are smaller groves of bamboo stalks that represents mini negative beliefs.  For the “I am not lovable” forest, a couple of mini beliefs may be “I am ugly” or “I am annoying”.  Those thoughts are supported by lots of memories or bamboo stalks over the years that create a grove for each one.  And together, those groves make up this forest.  It may feel daunting to rip out this entire invasive forest, but EMDR gives you the tools to do it one plant at a time.   And if you know anything about the root structure of bamboo stalks, there are 2 characteristics that are important to note:

• Clumps - sometimes, one bamboo root structure will support many stalks.  So if you process through the root structure for one, you will bring down the stalks of other clumped plants. For EMDR, this is particularly true for memories that are similar to each other.  If you have many memories of being called ugly in elementary school by the same group of kids, working though the root structure on one memory can sometimes generalize to process all of those memories at once.  The other characteristic of bamboo roots is that there are sometimes
• Runners - these connect bamboo stalks to each other.  For EMDR this means you are reprocessing the memory about being bullied in elementary school and all of a sudden, you start thinking about the end of an old friendship with one of those bullies.  This is called a feeder memory and sometimes you will need to process it entirely in order to take down the bamboo stalk you are working on.  

You can see how much time and energy it might take for people with complex trauma in their background to take down their forest of negative memories and beliefs.  However, if they do the work, they can clear those invasive plants out of the landscape of their brains to allow for healthy thoughts and beliefs to reclaim that space — healthy thoughts like “I am enough” and “I am safe” and “I am lovable.” 

This invasive plant metaphor helps me to understand how EMDR works and clears space for personal growth and meaning.  Let me know what you think.  Comments are always appreciated and thanks for watching!