EMDR Can Calm Your Brain's Alarm System | Burgess Hill Counselling

When we are in danger or feel we are under threat, the alarm system in our brain will be activated.

One-off dangers

Our brains were designed to assess danger very quickly. It is done automatically, without us thinking about it. The brain will decide the following:

Can I fight this danger?
If not, can I run away from this danger?
If not, then I will freeze or flop until the danger has passed.

Once the danger has passed or been dealt with, the alarm system will be turned off and the body goes back to a relaxed frame of mind. The adrenaline and cortisol which was pumped into your body to deal with the danger are naturally absorbed back into the body (this is where people who are in shock can start to shake – this is the body getting rid of the adrenaline and cortisol).

How do I heal from one-off dangers?

Sometimes, these single event dangers can be deeply traumatic and the brain is unable to switch off and will keep reliving the event. This reliving can be in the form of flashbacks, nightmares, feeling tense or jumpy, feeling depressed, lacking in motivation, avoiding reminders of the event e.g. not driving a certain route because you had the car accident on that road. If this is happening to you, then EMDR can help the brain move the event to a lived experience, rather than one that is still happening.

Developmental trauma (feeling continually unsafe as a child)

So, what happens to your brain’s alarm system, if as a child you regularly felt unsafe? There is a huge range of reasons why a child would not feel safe growing up. Here are a few examples:

Being witness to parents fighting and shouting with one another
Being witness to parents drinking heavily or taking drugs
Being bullied at school by peers or teachers
Being sexually or physically abused
Living in poverty
Receiving no or limited emotional support and encouragement from your primary care givers
Moving frequently, which prevented you from making friends
Having to deal with illness (either yourself) or a primary care giver
Family dealing with early bereavement due to illness, suicide or accident

If you experienced the above, then it is likely your brain’s alarm system was on high alert most of the time by scanning each situation to how you could respond. It is common for children who have experienced developmental trauma to keep their alarm system on into adulthood. Not realising that the alarm system no longer needs to be on, all of the time.

Understand your triggers

The early stages of EMDR therapy will help you recognise your brain’s triggers and how to manage the triggers. When triggered the brain can go into a ‘hyperarousal’ state or a ‘hypoarousal’ state. The EMDR therapy will also link the triggers with specific past trauma memories.

Some of the symptoms we typically experience in the hyperarousal state include:

Anxiety
Panic
Rage
Hostility
Feeling emotionally overwhelmed or out of control
Restlessness
Sleeplessness
Being jumpy
Hyper-active or hyper-vigilant (on guard)

Physical symptoms can be:

Increased heart rate
Trembling
Sweating
Clammy hands
Dizziness
Nausea
Diarrhoea
Tingling sensations in hands or feet.

Some of the symptoms we typically experience in the hypoarousal state include:

Chronic tiredness
Numbness
Zoning out physically and emotionally
Powerlessness
Helplessness
Disorientation
Disconnection
Avoiding social contact
Poor self-care.

Physical symptoms can be:

Slower heart rate
Lower blood pressure
Poor digestion
Long term we may lose the ability to ‘feel’ or lose touch with reality

Part of the EMDR therapy will help you recognise which state you are in and bring you into a state of tolerance, so you can manage the painful memories of your past.

EMDR can help your brain acknowledge that it is no longer in danger. That the adult part of you, can now take control of situations (which you could not do as a child) and therefore, the alarm system can be turned off, and only be switched on when there is a real danger.