I’ve been asked if Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) can help people with OCD, which is the abbreviation for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
The short answer is that it absolutely can.
We all have moments when we wonder if we did something we were supposed to do: Did I shut the garage door? Is the back door locked? Did I turn off the stove? Is the water still running? It makes sense to go back and check. Once we find out that we did take care of that task (which is more often the case), or find out that we didn’t do what we needed to but we took care of it after having gone back, we’re relieved. The question is over. With OCD it’s not over, people go back to that scenario over and over again.
What OCD is
OCD is an anxiety disorder similar to body dysmorphic disorder (where a person is preoccupied with defects or flaws that other people don’t see or are slight to others), hoarding disorder, (there are shows about this) and hair-pulling disorder, in which people pull their hair out, usually a hair at a time creating a bald spot. OCD is characterized by recurrent and persistent thoughts and urges that are unwanted; in most people the anxiety or distress is marked (obsession). The obsessions are associated with danger, such as the fear of germs, or the question: will the house burn down? When a person attempts to ignore or suppress thoughts, urges or images through other repetitive thought or action it becomes a compulsion, such as washing hands over and over to get rid of the germs or going back many times to make sure the stove burner is turned off.
The usual treatment for OCD has been what’s known as CBT- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. In CBT the premise is that if you can change your thoughts you can change your emotions and emotional response. The work is done through helping you understand the thoughts and feelings that influence behaviors. So if you have the belief that you are sick so you continue to check your temperature, then CBT would help you evaluate the thought that drove the need to check hourly such as, what has changed in the last hour, if I took an aspirin or other fever reducer, is an hour enough time to see it work? Does checking actually help? Then after challenging the irrational thought, you then replace that thought with a more rational thought that is appropriately helpful.
On March 2, 2020 Bigthink published an article that reports on a study conducted at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. They found that the OCD sufferers often do not trust their past experiences so they repeat them until they feel better. This suggests that the OCD feelings are driving the behaviors. The fears are being acted upon in order to eliminate them.
How EMDR works with OCD
Because people with OCD struggle to calm their fears, EMDR initially helps create a calm or safe place for you to go back to in your mind. We work on acknowledging that your fears won’t kill you, nor are you required to act on your unsettling thoughts. EMDR also incorporates a part of CBT into the process by providing appropriate thoughts about your experiences, and in addition, it accesses memories and fears that are stored in the brain as well as the body.
Anxiety is fear and it usually has a beginning somewhere in childhood: there will be a memory of an incident - it may be vague, but often it’s a specific recollection. When that incident is recalled the body usually has a reaction such as tight shoulders, a lump in the throat, it may be something in the pit of your stomach or something else completely. Everyone has their own way of responding. Through EMDR once you have developed the ability to calm yourself and fully accept that your fears are not your fate, we can address or target the specific obsession or compulsion through noticing how it affects your body as you recall the incident(s). Once you are no longer bothered by them then we can focus on the future and what you can do to handle any other irrational thoughts that come into your mind.
Then you’ll be able to handle your fears and your OCD will have reduced. It takes time but it’s well worth it.