Being held captive by the past through your own memories is a horrible existence. Whether you are constantly reliving events through flashbacks or simply haunted by occurrences from long ago, they can impede your health and happiness. Memories can repeatedly traumatise the survivor of a horrendous event and can be the cause of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.
Psychiatrists, therapists, and counselors work to help patients suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome by reducing the amount of influence memories have on their current situation. If the memories can be put into their proper context so they are simply reminders of the past, then a survivor is able to accept that the events remembered aren't happening today and this increases their sense of well-being.
Conventional means of doing this currently involve varying methods of processing the memories and desensitizing the survivor to the depicted events. One of the newer and more successful means employed is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, better known as E.M.D.R..
In E.M.D.R., a client is asked to visualize a memory and place themselves in it. On a scale of one to ten, they then define how upset this memory makes them feel, what emotions they are experiencing, and where the emotions physically manifest in their body. A light hypnotic type trance is then induced, either utilizing rapid eye movement, an alternating pulse in the palms of the hands, or an alternating tone in the ears.
It usually depends on the individual client as to what is the most effective method, as different people respond better to different stimuli. Once the patient has settled into the memory, the doctor then talks them through the memory, having them tell the story as it is happening to them.
The theory is that instead of simply reliving the event and re-experiencing the trauma, the controlled situation allows them to step away from participating so they can begin to deal with the emotions generated by the circumstances. For example, people who have survived a situation where others died will often feel guilty because they survived and aren’t able to break free from those moments until they have dealt with the emotion.
The trauma won't be forgotten, but it won't be constantly re-lived, either. The person can get on with their life and live without the dominant negative emotions the flashbacks invoked. While E.M.D.R. does involve working directly with the memory, it does not utilize desensitization to the extent of other forms of therapy. Some literally have the patient relive the moment over and over again until they no longer feel the same initial intensity.
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