You're probably familiar with the knee reflex. If you hit your knee with a hammer, it shoots up. When under pressure, you can start to exhibit automatic behaviour. You shoot into a reaction before you are aware of it.
In the fast-paced world of being an executive leader, the pressure to deliver top performance can be overwhelming. As you struggle through the complexities of decision-making, team management and strategic planning as a leader or executive, the toll on mental and emotional well-being can be considerable.
Sometimes it hits old sore spots or maybe you can even speak of old traumas. EMDR can be the right intervention to tackle old ingrained beliefs and patterns at the core. In this blog, I explain what EMDR is and what it can do for you.
As an executive or leader, you want to become more emotionally resilient, develop greater stress resilience, make better decisions and improve your communication skills.
What is EMDR?
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a pioneering therapeutic approach that has transcended its origins in trauma processing and is now a valuable intervention in my executive coaching.
Automatic reactions may be deeply rooted in experiences, where you have felt helpless and powerless. This past feeling is activated, as if it were happening NOW. You react in a split-second.
How does EMDR work?
Experiences are stored in working memory, so it can be activated at any time. With all the thoughts, feelings, physical sensations that go with the experience. You are inundated, overwhelmed, as it were.
The defining feature of EMDR is the use of eye movements, with the therapist straining the client's working memory. The client's eyes follow the therapist's hand movements while the image traumatic memory is recalled.
The set of eye movements puts such a strain on the brain's working memory that there will be a competition as to which experience gets to remain first. I will assist you to blur the image and violent reaction to it so that it can be move to the long-term memory.
This psychotherapy technique was initially developed by Francine Shapiro to alleviate the symptoms of trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). EMDR consists of a structured process of eight stages, including history taking, preparation, assessment, desensitisation, installation, body scan, closure and re-evaluation.
Using EMDR in executive coaching
For instance, the other day I was working with an executive in a coaching programme and we came across a past marked by bullying behaviour. Despite all his contributions and achievements, there was still the underlying perception: 'I am worthless'.
A number of life-shaping experiences over the years had led him to conclude that he IS worthless. These included being bullied at school, where boys would put him in the bin with the lid on his head while laughing heartily. These and other experiences of powerlessness, shame and helplessness were stored as images in his short-term memory. As he sees the image before him in the coaching session, he experiences the same pain, humiliation and sadness again in the present moment. As if it were happening in the NOW.
We all have our bruises and major or minor traumas. And these can certainly be addressed so that the sharp edges of the experience are taken off.
As an executive, do you want to get started with EMDR to address your own bruises? Read in this blog about what it can bring you or contact me for an appointment.
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