EMDR and Object Relations

• Accelerated Learning and Positive Templates by Francine Shapiro, 8/4/97
  • Integrating Psychodynamic Object Relations by David Grand, LCSW, 8/13/97
    
    

Wonderful description of the significance of introjects and some ideas for corrective clinical applications. I hope others will respond with their suggestions as well.

The overall question of how to establish appropriate object relations is a vital one. We often see the movement towards individuation and attribution of appropriate responsibility to be one of the first emotional stages of healing in the processing of childhood trauma. The adult client is locked into the perceptions that were there at the time of the event. Since the child generally takes on the blame for the parents' flaws, the sense of shame and guilt, danger, etc. are locked in place. Adequate processing liberates the client from these perceptions, and allows him/her to move through successive stages to an awareness of adult choices on an affective, cognitive, and behavioral level. In other words, appropriate personal development ensues.

It would be wonderful for the practicing clinician if developmental psychologists and theorists were to map out the various, sequential increments of attainment as seen in the healthy development of the happy and functional child and adult. This would assist EMDR clinicians in fashioning the best interventions to help incorporate the appropriate information when needed during stuck or inadequate processing. In all ways, the best EMDR interventions are those which mimic spontaneous processing and acquisition.

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