William Roberts, Addiction Services senior manager, said the goal of EMDR is help the brain retrain itself to better deal with memories that have led to maladaptive behaviors.
“A lot of people have been able to cease using the substance,” Roberts said. “But because they never dealt with a lot of underlying trauma or underlying issues, many times when they’re retriggered or something happens and that pain resurfaces, it is so powerful that many times it returns them to the addiction.”
After the clinician has determined which traumatic memory to target, they ask the client to hold different aspects of that event or thought in mind and to use their eyes to track the therapist’s hand as it moves back and forth across the client’s field of vision.
As this happens, internal associations occur and the clients begin to process the memory and disturbing feelings.
The therapist may also teach the client a variety of imagery and stress reduction techniques to use during and between sessions, according to Public Health.
Roberts compared it to saving a document on a computer, but later pulling the document back out to modify it.
“So you pull this memory back up that may have been detrimental, and you’re able to reprocess it and reframe it and go back and save it. And now you have different experiences with that memory and it’s no longer something that would activate or trigger you,” Roberts said.
Roberts said the program was started because after Montgomery County Alcohol, Drug & Mental Health Services offered grants for agencies to become trained in EMDR. The department did not have to hire anyone new and trained existing staff.
He said the department started publicly advertising the service last week, though internally had been offering the service leading up to the announcement.
The program is for Montgomery County residents with Medicaid or who are indigent and can’t pay for services. They do not take private insurance. For self-pay clients, the general cost is $137 for assessment, $126 for individual counseling for an hour and $96 for two hours of group counseling.
Montgomery County residents can contact Public Health’s Addiction Services program for a free consultation and evaluation at (937) 461-5223 extension 0.
If further treatment is recommended Addiction Services staff can recommend an appropriate treatment program.
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