Re: EMDR & Hx of stroke
Strokes can affect a person in various ways, depending on the part or parts of the brain affected. Some strokes will affect very little, some will completely incapacitate the person, and all shades of gray in between.
Some strokes may make someone perseverate during EMDR, not be able to associate freely, without jump starting. Some strokes may make someone unable to have big insights, they may be quite concrete. Some will make it hard or impossible to talk, making EMDR difficult. Some will make it hard to access or describe or shift emotional states. Or some will color the work with an emotion that is more about the biological substrate and less about the issue being processed. So its important to know the nature of the impairment, make sure the person is medically stable, have a game plan for restabilizing and soothing in the event the EMDR doesn't proceed well, if it is clinically indicated to do. Having said all that, sometimes EMDR can help someone with a stroke. I worked with someone for whom regular EMDR was the only way to get relaxation after a brain injury, not the way we usually use EMDR. So its variable and requires full clinical judgment.
|