Sensorimotor-Focused EMDR

Sensorimotor-Focused EMDR combines two hugely influential and effective therapies, EMDR therapy and sensorimotor psychotherapy, to provide a new approach. In doing so, the book supports the widely held view of psychotherapists that in trauma the primary store of neurological information is somatic rather than cognitive.

Many therapists trained in EMDR find that additional resources are needed for patients who present with symptoms of complex trauma and dissociation. This is because EMDR is primarily a top-down approach based on CBT, with the addition of bilateral stimulation (BLS) in visual, tactile and auditory modalities. By contrast, Sensorimotor-Focused EMDR takes a body-based and bottom-up approach that seeks to resolve trauma by reprocessing information at multiple levels - in the gut-brain, the heart-brain and the head-brain, as well as in the endocrine, immune and nervous systems.

Fully revised since The Art of BART (2015), the book looks at the latest advances in neuroscience, including research into the effectiveness of psychotherapy and the mysteries of consciousness and the development of mind. It also looks at the role of newly discovered organs, the mesentery and the interstitium, and provides clear anatomical evidence for the communication of biophotons in energy channels known as the primo vascular system.

SF-EMDR is the only therapy that fully integrates Western theories of affective neuroscience with Eastern observations on activation of chakras, pranas and energies, and in doing so it offers strong potential for enhanced outcomes and optimized performance for patients.

Dr Art O’Malley has practised as a medical doctor since 1990 and as a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist from 2004 until 2015 for the NHS. In Jan 2011 he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Now in full-time private practice he sees patients with a wide range of health problems who often present with symptoms of complex trauma and dissociation. He has presented widely in the fields of trauma, neglect and the developing brain, attachment disorders, personality disorders, emotional dysregulation in ADHD and on ASD diagnosis and management. This year (2018) he was recognised as an EMDR Europe accredited Consultant for Children and Adolescents and reaccredited as an EMDR consultant for adults (2008-2023). He supervises therapists towards accreditation as both Practitioners and Consultants in EMDR. He first presented this therapeutic approach at the annual conference of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and dissociation in November 2011 in Canada and at the Bowlby Centre in London. Karnac Books published his book, The ART of BART: Bilateral Affective Reprocessing of Thoughts as a Dynamic Model for Psychotherapy in March 2015. The follow, Sensorimotor-Focused EMDR: A New Paradigm for Psychotherapy and Peak Performance can be preordered from www.routledge.com. It is an integration of Sensorimotor-Focused EMDR, Brief Effective Psychotherapy and Quantum Field Theory of Psychotherapy as described by Professor Ernest Rossi of the Milton Erickson School of Hypnotherapy. He has been nominated as a member of the UK and Ireland EMDR association committee from 2016 to 2019 and has responsibility for the dissemination of research into EMDR throughout the UK and Ireland. Further information is available at www.artomalley.com.