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Exposing Psychology, Exalting Christ |
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| Q&AQuestion: I was wondering if you have ever heard or have any information about EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). It is a therapy now used for PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder)...Do you know anything about this? It sounds like psychology... Answer:
The basic theory of EMDR is that your current
dysfunctional state or mental disorder such as PTSD or anxiety exists
because you did not process a past traumatic event correctly in your mind.
EMDR proposes to help you reprocess the event correctly by understanding it
and learning from it with the therapist's help and EMDR techniques, in order
to "store your experience with the appropriate emotions" in your mind. The
desired result is that your future mindset and behavior is now based on the
new, re-processed memory rather than the original, incorrectly processed
memory (http://www.emdr.com/theory.htm).
In EMDR therapy, the client is told to think back to a
traumatic experience of the past and try to relive the negative feelings,
emotions, and body sensations, "while simultaneously moving his/her eyes
back and forth following the therapist's fingers as they move across his/her
field of vision for 20-30 seconds or more." Then, "the client is instructed
to just notice whatever happens" and "the clinician instructs the client to
let his/her mind go blank and to notice whatever thought, feeling, image,
memory, or sensation comes to mind." Whatever comes to mind is discussed
through psychotherapy. The goal of EMDR therapy is to reinforce positive
beliefs about oneself to the point that the negative experience is healed by
one's increased confidence in his/her positive beliefs. For example, a rape
victim might have the negative feeling of blaming herself for the rape, for
which EMDR is used to create the positive belief about herself that she was
truly a victim and was not to blame (http://www.emdr.com/briefdes.htm).
EMDR is unbiblical because it
promotes looking back and reliving painful experiences of the past (Phil.
3:13-14, 4:8). It is also unbiblical because, just like the hundreds of
other therapies available, it is a soul healing technique that derives from
the wisdom of this world, and not from the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word.
This is the wisdom of the world and the philosophies of men about which the
Apostle Paul warned (1 Cor. 1-3, Col. 2:8). We are complete in Him (Col.
2:10) and through Him have been given everything we need for life and
godliness (2 Pet. 1:3).
I took a full-day,
$400 workshop on how to perform EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and
Reprocessing) when I was an intern psychotherapist (before I left the
field), and even performed it on Ryan! Ryan told me he really wanted to
believe it worked, but deep down he knew it was ridiculous. EMDR, like many
other therapies of today, resembles witchcraft more than science. We would
be better off consulting our Counselor in heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ, in
prayer and Bible reading to find healing from past traumatic experiences.
I hope
this helps.
Lisa Bazler
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