STRESS

the blinds in my bedroom and caused me to wake naturally . I yawned and looked around . No sweat . No elevated heart rate .

There was a lot of baggage I ’ d accumulated , and I no longer wanted to carry the emotions that welled up in my throat each time the memories popped into my head .

And yes , just as EMDR helped me overcome the lingering night terrors from my stabbing , it helped me come to terms with those other traumatic calls I was on and carried with me . In fact , if anything good came of my stabbing it would be how it led me to an effective treatment for all those other calls I had been dragging around in my

psyche . Nearly dying at the hand of a knife-wielding assailant sets me apart from most other firefighters and medics , but nearly all of us share those other stored-up traumatic events .

Today , I travel the world sharing my story because I want to introduce my fellow first responders to this life-changing treatment

so they ’ ll know that there is a solution for us . If you carry the weight of this career in your head , there is help . If you find yourself debating mental health help , I strongly recommend it . An important question for any potential therapist is : Do you practice EMDR ?

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES . YOU DESERVE IT .

According to the Cleveland Clinic , EMDR is recognized as a best practice for PTSD in the United States by both the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense . The World Health Organization has approved the therapy , and it is used by agencies in Australia , the U . K . and Germany .

EDMR , developed by psychologist Dr . Francine Shapiro in 1989 , uses what is called the Adaptive Information Processing model . Since then there have been more than a dozen clinical trials and more than 100,000 therapists trained in the technique who have treated more than 7 million people worldwide .

Those clinical trials show that the therapy does work , but partly due to its accidental discovery , there is still uncertainty on why it works .

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy is a form of trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy specifically developed for reducing the power of traumatic memories . A trained therapist will guide you to think about a trauma while moving your eyes back and forth .

OVER TIME , THIS WILL HELP YOUR BRAIN REPROCESS THE MEMORIES SO THAT THEY NO LONGER CAUSE AS MUCH PAIN .

As in typical cognitive behavioral therapy , with EMDR treatment , you first establish a supportive relationship with your therapist through conversation and may learn some new skills to cope with uncomfortable feelings that EMDR may bring up .

You ’ ll select a traumatic memory to reprocess , a memory that causes you great discomfort and triggers PTSD symptoms . While you imagine a traumatic scene from the event , your therapist will guide you to focus on the thoughts , feelings and bodily sensations that come up . At the same time , you will be asked to rapidly move your eyes left and right , like in REM sleep . Your therapist might use their hand , a light bar that pulses back and forth , or audible taps to your left and right . This movement helps emotions related to the trauma to arise , and the therapist may have you stop the eye movements to talk about your perception of these emotions , to help you process them .

Over time and possibly several repeated sessions , your emotions connected to these memories should lower in intensity , until

they no longer cause tremendous pain . At that point , your therapist will help you to replace the associated negative thoughts and emotions with healthier thoughts and positive associations .

The Cleveland Clinic breaks the therapy process into eight phases and says it can take three to six sessions for a single disturbing event or memory . More complex or longer-term traumas may take eight to 12 sessions ( or sometimes more ). Sessions usually last between an hour and 90 minutes .

CHECK OUT THE CLEVELAND CLINIC TO LEARN MORE !

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