Laurel Parnell – Emdr for a Sleep Issue Related to Medical Trauma

Imagine the terror of lying in an ICU hospital bed after an unexpected surgery, and drifting in an out of consciousness as the medical staff works to keep you sedated. You experience sensations and thoughts as if you are awake, but you are actually only experiencing a patchwork of what is going on around you. You are unable to communicate or interact with the medical staff, leaving you feeling powerless and confused. You are scared that if you fall back to sleep you will never wake up.

For the client in this demonstration video, the trauma associated with the medical procedure keeps her from being able to sleep well and wake rested. She is unable to fall asleep and allow herself to stay asleep, constantly afraid that if she falls asleep, she might never wake up. EMDR expert Laurel Parnell teaches the steps taken to allow the client to finally face the lingering fears, emotions and memories of being in that hospital bed. Dr. Parnell integrates bilateral stimulation into therapy and directs the client as she processes her memories and emotional triggers. As the session progresses, the client is able to see bed as a safe and welcoming space, and is no longer afraid of falling asleep.

Outline

• Explore the presenting problem, symptoms and triggers
• Review multiple Eye Movement demonstrations
• Establish safe boundaries and preferences for bilateral stimulation
• Create and install resources and metaphors for nurturing, wisdom and peace
• Establish a signal for stop and keep going
• Target development
• Refine the picture or scene
• Integrate bilateral stimulation
• Check the target
• Explore the processing block
• Design and install imagination and Socratic interweaves
• Revisit the picture or scene
• Check the target
• Install a positive cognition (PC)
• Check the trigger scene
• Process the trigger scene with new feelings
• Check triggers
• Closing and debriefing

Faculty

Clinical Psychologist, EMDR Trainer

Private Practice

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Laurel Parnell, Ph.D. is one of the world’s leading experts on EMDR. A clinical psychologist, she has trained thousands in EMDR in her international workshops. Dr. Parnell is the author of A Therapist’s Guide to EMDR, EMDR in the Treatment of Adults Abused as Children, Transforming Trauma: EMDR, and Tapping In: A Step-by-Step Guide to Activating Your Healing Resources Through Bilateral Stimulation as well as articles and a chapter in the EMDR Casebook. Dr. Parnell is at work on her newest book: Attachment-Focused EMDR: Healing Relational Trauma, which will be published by WW Norton in 2013. Dr. Parnell has served on the faculty of the California Institute for Integral Studies and John F. Kennedy University.

An EMDR pioneer and innovator, Dr. Parnell has immersed herself in the practice and development of EMDR since 1991 bringing a client-centered attachment-focused approach to the work. A frequent presenter at conferences, she has been interviewed for television, radio and print. She maintains a private practice in San Rafael, California.