EMDR for Panic and Anxiety in an Overwhelmed Single Mother – Laurel Parnell

Proof of item:

In this session, the client, a single mother of four children presents with a terror that her children will contract a “tummy bug”. She said she had intense fear, anxiety, and panic that could be triggered by anything that she believed might produce a stomach ailment in her children. She believed that her intense fear was an exaggerated response and wanted to be less anxious and reactive.

This case was complicated, multifaceted and had multiple contributors linked to her stress and anxiety that she was able to successfully process with EMDR in this session. By the end of the session she felt relief, and a significant diminishment of her anxiety with regard to her children. She realized that there was a “normal” level of stress inherent in raising children on her own, with which she was more comfortable.

1. Summarize the importance of processing multiple channels from one target as it relates to case conceptualization.

• Create and install resources and metaphors for safety 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 resource interweaves
• Revisit the picture or scene
• Check the SUDS
• Install a positive cognition (PC)
• Check the trigger scene
• Process the trigger scene with new feelings
• Check triggers

Get EMDR for Panic and Anxiety in an Overwhelmed Single Mother of author Laurel Parnell