“Don’t feed the demons within you by over thinking; let’s make them starve to death.”

Why is psychotherapy needed? Sometimes we experience a horrible situation that left a very prominent mark of its dreadfulness on our minds. And we make it even stronger by repeatedly thinking about it, and it becomes almost impossible to get rid of it without any external help. Then we need to visit an ambitious psychotherapist to make a way out of this painful situation. Many PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) treatments are being practiced by therapists and counsellors nowadays, but here is the comparison of two of the best PTSD Treatments, namely EMDR and CBT.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing

Whatever happens, in the real world, the mind perceives that phenomenon through the five gifted senses in the human body. It starts reprocessing it immediately to simplify it to be stored pleasantly in the memory. But in the case of a traumatic situation, the mind tries over and over again to reprocess it as usual but could not handle this complex situation.

EMDR therapy is a good and effective tool that can help us process these difficulties. In this process, the patient is asked to recall that specific image related to any very disturbing event of their lives, which can make them uncomfortable in a matter of seconds.

The patient might become emotional during EMDR treatment because of the nature of the traumatic memory. With help of the EMDR treatment the client goes deeper in his subconscious mind to that younger self memory.  But the idea is not to abandon a younger self in one of the most difficult moments of their lives; it’s to help them find a way out of their pain.

So, an EMDR therapist will teach you strategies for dealing with disturbing thoughts or images as they arise. From there, you will identify negative beliefs that have been weighing you down, as well as positive beliefs about yourself that you would like to adopt.

An example would be:

I am good enough (opposite to what it was before- I am not good enough)

I am a good person (I am a bad person)

I am smart (I am stupid)

Eye movements, taps, or tones are guided by an EMDR therapist while they lead you to focus on the strengths of the positive beliefs that you made earlier.

The aim is to allow people to process and reduce or illuminate the negative emotions around the traumatic events.  these traumatic memories into their standard memories. Over time, exposure to these memories should reduce their effects.

Advantages of EMDR Therapy

EMDR has long been used to treat people with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression but has been shown to benefit all people. Here are a few ways that EMDR treatment can help you.

Transform your beliefs

Many of us sometimes limit ourselves due to unhappy experiences in our past. EMDR treatment helps to take power away from these negative beliefs, showing you that these are just negative interpretations of the events and positive interpretations are also available.

Recover from trauma

Psychologists recommend EMDR for PTSD sufferers, as it has proven extremely effective at processing all kinds of trauma. EMDR has been shown to help with depression, anxiety, nightmares, grief, divorce, bullying, abuse, and a multitude of other life traumas.

Fast track to results

EMDR vs CBT therapy takes a different approach from that of talk therapy, and issues that patients have tried to talk through for years may be resolved in only a handful of sessions. You also don’t have to tell every detail of your memories in EMDR.

Helps you manage little stresses before they grow

Everyday stresses can be more problematic if not dealt with properly and timely. There’s no need to wait until you feel completely overwhelmed to do something about it, however. Having the occasional EMDR therapy session can help you relieve yourself from all the stresses you have been carrying.

Ongoing self-improvement

EMDR treatment is valuable for everybody, not just people who are intentionally suffering. Transforming negative beliefs can improve your relationships, work performance, creativity, health, and more. You unlock your true potential by quieting the voice that says “I can’t” or “why to bother”.

Disadvantages of EMDR Therapy

EMDR and other forms of psychotherapy may cause some disadvantages in the form of side effects, such as:

• Heightened emotions or physical sensations during sessions
• Light-headedness
• Vivid dreams

These symptoms will typically resolve as treatment continues. Individuals should tell their therapist about their experiences between sessions so that they can work on new memories and symptoms in future sessions

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Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) can help with depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol, and drug use problems, marital problems, eating disorders, and severe mental illness. It teaches you how to become your therapist, equipped with a package of techniques.

Not only can you use the techniques to help yourself feel better, but you will also know why you are feeling better and can use your package again in the future. CBT focuses on the relation between the way you think (cognitive) and how you act (behavior). Making changes to the way you think and act can significantly impact the way you feel.

Our thoughts lead us to interpret and understand situations in a particular way. By paying a little more attention to the way we are thinking, we can understand that connection and see why we ‘end up feeling’ certain ways at certain times.

Advantages of CBT

• It can be effective as medication in treating some mental health disorders and may be helpful in cases where medication alone has not worked.
• It can be completed in a relatively short time compared to other talking therapies.
• Focuses on re-training your thoughts and altering your behaviors to make changes to how you feel.
• Skills you learn in CBT are useful, practical, and helpful strategies that can be incorporated into everyday life to help you cope better with future stresses and difficulties, even after the treatment has finished.

Disadvantages of CBT

• To benefit from CBT, you need to commit yourself to the process. A therapist can help and advise you but cannot make your problems go away without your co-operation.
• Attending regular CBT sessions and carrying out any extra work between sessions can take up a lot of your time.
• Due to the structured nature of CBT, it may not be suitable for people with more complex mental health needs or learning difficulties.
• As CBT can involve confronting your emotions and anxieties, you may experience initial periods where you are more anxious or emotionally uncomfortable.
• Some critics argue that because CBT only addresses current problems and focuses on specific issues, it does not address the possible underlying causes of mental health conditions, such as an unhappy childhood.
• CBT focuses on the individual’s capacity to change themselves (their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors) and does not address deeper seated problems.

Conclusion

EMDR therapy is a more effective treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). 

A recent meta-analysis determined that EMDR is more effective for the treatment of PTSD when compared to CBT therapy.

EMDR does not involve the detailed description of the event, extended exposure, and homework.

EMDR can help illuminating the negative emotions around the traumatic event when CBT would teach you how to deal with it.

CBT is a cognitive which engages the conscious parts of our mind when EMDR goes at the deeper layers of our brain to the core of the issue and changes it there and then.

I personally recommend CBT if you would like to understand your problem and would like a range of tool on how to manage it.

I would recommend EMDR if you would like to process your issue on a deeper level and massively reduce the negative emotions around the traumatic event.

You would feel like a survivor of the incident rather than a victim of it.

EMDR is my favorite type of therapy.

To know the costs of these types of therapy, please visit here.