EMDR Therapy and Mindfulness for Trauma-Focused Care

This book is a presentation of how the two practices mindfulness and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy are powerfully paired, and as a result, create a new paradigm for the delivery of trauma-informed services. It delves into the various perspectives on mindfulness and their clinical utility. The book is divided into ten chapters. The introductory chapter discusses shifting from trauma informed care to trauma focused care. Chapter 2 calls for a paradigm shift from simply approaching clinical care as trauma-informed to trauma focused. It presents a series of blueprints for integrating mindfulness practice and EMDR therapy is a major way to usher in this paradigm shift. Chapter 3 focuses on the practices that are typically viewed as more traditional or classic, such as sensory grounding, breath awareness, breathing meditation, body scanning, feeling tone meditation, labeling, walking meditation, and loving kindness meditation. Chapter 4 covers practices such as muscle clenching and releasing, making day-to-day activities into objects of meditation, movement practices, yogic breathing practices, and approaching the expressive arts with meditative intention. Chapter 5 provides suggestions for how clinicians can practice EMDR Phase 1, Client History. Chapter 6 guides both seasoned EMDR therapists and those who are newly learning EMDR in how they can deliver EMDR Phase 2, Preparation, in a more trauma-informed manner. Chapter 7 covers mindful approaches for acquiring negative and positive cognitions during Phase 3, Assessment. It discusses how mindfulness practice can assist in therapist attunement during Phase 4, Desensitization, and Phase 5, Installation, as they apply bilateral stimulation. Chapter 8 talks about mindful facilitation through abreaction, dissociation, and resistance in special situations in phases 3 to 6. Chapter 9 explores EMDR Phase 7, Closure and EMDR Phase 8, Reevaluation. The final chapter highlights the notion that without mindfulness practices, EMDR therapy may be incomplete.