Desensitizing Drug & Alcohol Urges with EMDR

Trigger Desensitization: Triggers are people, places, and things that make us want to drink or use. For example, billboards, Saturday night, talking to a certain person, or being in a particular place. Recovery involves developing  solutions  for these triggers so we can avoid or manage them.  For some triggers it is possible to “desensitize”  them so they hold less power to make us want to use or drink.

Why Use EMDR for Triggers? EMDR is a psychotherapeutic approach that uses bilateral (left/right) stimulation to help resolve addiction triggers and enhance personal resources and strengths. In a 6-month research study in Germany, EMDR resulted in a statistically significant reduction of addiction cravings.

What Happens in an EMDR Session? The therapist spends time with you helping to identify your using/drinking triggers. Then in an hour-long individual EMDR therapy session, you focus on a trigger while listening to an alternating left-right tone through a headset and while holding onto hand-tappers that vibrate in a similar alternating left/right pattern.

The therapist checks in with you periodically as you focus on whatever comes up for you. You report back on what you are experiencing—thoughts or feelings or body sensations—and then the tones and tapping continue. The therapist asks you how strong your urge to use or drink is at the beginning of the session and a few other times during the session. Many people report a lessened urge to drink and use after the treatment.