Medical pros get specialized trauma training in Las Vegas
On it’s surface, EMDR can look like a hoax.
But the trauma therapy, an acronym for “eye movement desensitization and reprocessing,” is not the sort of hypnosis you might see in a magic show.
EMDR, more than two decades old and backed by research, uses a series of questions and word and image associations to help a person disassociate disturbing experiences from negative feelings.
That’s where the hypnosis-like part comes in: To help victims overcome trauma, a therapist asks them to follow a finger back and forth with their eyes repeatedly until it no longer causes negative emotions or physical responses to arise, EMDR trainer George Abbott explained Friday at a training at University Medical Center.
The training, hosted by the hospital, drew about 30 counselors from Nevada and beyond, said Aaron Stagg, a marriage and family therapist who works in the hospital’s human resources department.
“It’s taken off in the last five-to-seven years because of all the research,” said Stagg, who received training to become EMDR-certified. “Traditionally, trauma counseling would take up to 20 sessions. EMDR, it cuts that down to four-to-six sessions.”
The counselors receiving instruction Friday will return Saturday and Sunday to complete their first phase of training. A second in-depth session will take place early next year, Stagg said.
Contact Jessie Bekker at jbekker@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4563. Follow @jessiebekks on Twitter.