EMDR VS CBT
The results may be similar – make the trauma lose its intensity and help process and store the memory correctly – but the process of the two therapies is quite different. ‘When we use trauma-focused CBT to treat people with PTSD, we are asking them to relate the trauma as a narrative, where they talk it over with their therapist repeatedly, listen to it back (having recorded themselves) and notice the differences between the “here and now” and the “then”,’ explains Dr McNeill. You may be more suited to EMDR than to trauma-focused CBT if...
✢ You find it challenging to verbalise emotionally painful or traumatic experiences
✢ You’ve previously tried CBT but your symptoms persisted
✢ You find it difficult to engage in therapy homework
✢ You’d rather not relate the ✢ content of the trauma to the therapist. ‘[Instead] you process the memory while using the bi-lateral stimulation, without verbalising it to the therapist,’ explains Dr McNeill.