EMI Training

Eye Movement Therapy Training:  New for Mental Health Professionals

Coming in Summer 2009… Eye Movement Therapy Training: A Weekend Course for Practicing Mental Health Professionals

Dr. Mike Deninger

In the Summer of 2009 CPSO will be offering a newly revamped course designed for mental health therapists in the use of Eye Movement Integration therapy (EMI) with deaf clients. The course, to be taught by Dr. Mike Deninger, will briefly explore the origins of EMI and provide intensive training in its applications in clinical settings. The course is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, July 18 and 19 from 9-5.

This is an opportunity that should not be missed. The course will lead to certification as a practitioner of EMItm from Phoenix Counseling & Hypnotherapy, LLC and will also carry PST credit. Continuing education units will also be provided for the disciplines of counseling and social work. For more information about the course contact Dr. Mike Deninger at DrMikeLPC@comcast.net. If you would like to register for this course, please click here to go to the course registration page for Summer 2009.

Dr. Deninger is a graduate of the Mental Health Counseling program of Gallaudet and is a Licensed Professional Counselor in private practice in Alexandria, Virginia. He holds certification as a trainer of EMI, as a trainer of Neuro Linguistic Programming, and as a trainer of Ericksonian Hypnotherapy and Brief Psychotherapy from the American Hypnosis Training Academy of Silver Spring, MD. You can read more about EMI and Dr. Mike’s use of hypnosis and NLP techniques with deaf and hard of hearing individuals at deninger.com.

The following article was submitted by Dr. Deninger and describes how EMI can be an important therapeutic tool in addressing PTSD and other forms of anxiety:

We are living in an era of instability that has increased the incidence of anxiety in the population. Global warming is causing climate shifts that scientists warn will continue to spawn more frequent and severe weather systems around the globe. The need for disaster relief from severe weather has become routine. At the same time, extremists have created a heightened state of unrest with attacks like 9/11 and bombings in key metropolitan areas. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and civil strife in developing countries are leaving behind soldiers and civilians in the aftermath who suffer from post-traumatic stress. US military men and women suffering from anxiety-related illnesses have overwhelmed our military health care system. Whether caused by natural or man-made disasters, large numbers of new patients are seeking treatment for stress and anxiety from mental health therapists. These cases are over and above those normally caused by accidents, rape, violence, betrayal, abuse, oppression and other injuries. It goes without saying that today’s mental health therapist needs effective techniques for dealing with a client’s anxiety, no matter what the cause.

Consider this scenario: You are a mental health therapist. During an initial evaluation a deaf woman explains that she was molested when she was 14 years old. She says she’s never gotten over it. She still has nightmares about that time. Whenever she thinks about it she “sees” a vivid reenactment of what happened in her mind’s eye. Then she gets a knot in her stomach, and her legs tremble with fear. In her thoughts she berates herself for not having done more to prevent the event. Although she is now 35, and has done several rounds of therapy with qualified professionals, she has never resolved the symptoms associated with what happened to her. In fact, she’s never explained the details to anyone. She’s always been too frightened and too ashamed to talk about it. Two of her therapists thought she wasn’t ready to discuss it. They thought she needed more time. One other therapist told her she had no choice -- she would have to discuss the details if she wanted to heal. The woman left that session and never returned. She wants you to help her resolve this once and for all, as long as she doesn’t have to explain what happened. What do you do?

Traditional therapeutic techniques to address this type of anxiety have fostered a “working through” of the traumatic events by confronting or re-experiencing their full effects in the confines of the therapy room. An approach such as this can require many sessions and it can be a slow and painful process. However, other reliable avenues are available that can reduce or eliminate post-traumatic anxiety without revivifying the original trauma. They can also be accomplished in only one to three sessions. One such technique is Eye Movement Integration (EMI) , a brief therapy technique that is effective in treating phobias, post traumatic stress, anxiety, and negative or self-limiting thoughts. It is one of many developments of the Neuro Linguistic Programming movement of the late 1970’s, and is modeled after the work of Robert Dilts and Steve and Connirare Andreas.

In the clinical setting a therapist uses EMI to interrupt the patterns (and the symptoms) that were established as a result of a traumatic event. The client is asked to think about the event and/or to project a representation (memory) of the event out onto a surface away from where they are sitting. She doesn’t have to explain it or talk about it in detail. While the client is projecting the memory, the therapist asks the client to follow the movement of a finger or a pen in the foreground with their eyes. Because eye movements are associated with the processing of specific types of information by the brain, it is believed that this technique helps the brain reprocess the event without its traumatic aspects. The changes achieved are often dramatic.

EMI is not commonly used with deaf and hard of hearing clients. It’s not that it doesn’t work. The technique’s use of sensory-based information is perfectly suited for use with deaf and hard of hearing clients. The problem is that no one has taught therapists who work with deaf or hard of hearing clients how to use the technique. Certification programs have been available to the general population of mental health practitioners since the early 1990’s. However, none have been organized or offered for deaf mental health professionals, or designed specifically for professionals who work with deaf and hard of hearing clients. This course will now offer that opportunity to professionals who serve deaf clients.