Dissociation : Vol. 9, No. 4 (Dec. 1996)

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Dissociation : Vol. 9, No. 4, p. 289-299 : The use of EMDR in patients with dissociative identity disorder
(Ridgeview Institute and the International Society for the Study of Dissociation, 1996-12) Lazrove, Steven; Fine, Catherine G., 1950-
Hyperarousal during trauma inhibits the integration of memory. In DID, memory is further disrupted when alter personalities coalesce around individual memory fragments and either reenact conflicts or disown them. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an innovative psychotherapeutic method which accelerates information processing and facilitates the integration of fragmented traumatic memories. Following a successful EMDR session, patients report that the nature of the traumatic memory has changed and that the event is now less upsetting and “feels over.” A strategy for using EMDR to integrate traumatic memories in patients with dissociative identity disorder (DID) is presented and technical considerations for its implementation are discussed. To the extent that alter personalities often are based on memory fragments, integration of traumatic memory facilitates personality integration. EMDR may be a superior method for working with traumatic memories in that it appears to enhance memory integration and reformulate cognitions concomitantly.