T anya

When asked to describe her pain according to how it felt, T anya began by saying her

shoulder pain was a stabbing sensation that vibrated all the way down to her wrist. She

pictured this pain as a dagger. The pain in her jaw she described as a tight feeling, like a

stuck spring. She stated her pain had started after a stressful period in her life involving

the forced temporary institutionalization of her disabled son. When asked to think of the

first time she felt the pain, she could not recall a specific incident, but she had a mental

image of her son being held in a locked room by government authorities and her being

unable to do anything to help him. Her negative pain-cognition was “I’m inadequate.”

Her positive cognition was “I can learn to manage it,” although she was not very confi-

dent about her ability to do this as indicated by a V oC of 2 of 7.

Tanya was instructed to focus on the pain, together with the image of the first time

she felt the pain and her negative cognition while attending to the eye movements. Fol-

lowing a few sets, she reported less pain and feeling as though something had released in

her neck. Reprocessing was discontinued at this point because of time constraints, and

she was asked to relate that to an image. She said it made her think of a spray can of

lubricant that could make everything loose. She then practiced thinking of this while

attending to several sets of bilateral stimulation. Once she was able to report a reasonably

strong and stable effect, she was offered the choice of using this imagery to control her

pain if she had the need to before her next treatment session.

At the following session, T anya reported that the pain relief had continued for sev-

eral days and that when her pain did eventually return it was not as severe or as disabling

as prior to the EMDR. She reported she had been able to wash her hair without assistance

for the first time in over a year and that she had also been able to hang out a load of

washing without pain. She stated that she felt so much better she had not needed to use

the imagery to control her pain. In the following weeks, she continued to receive EMDR

to facilitate further pain reduction and reinforce her anti-pain imagery. T anya’s pain was

never completely reduced, but by the end of treatment she described greatly reduced pain

and increased use of her left arm (Figure 1). Her positive cognition was “I can manage

my pain,” and her V oC for this was 6 of 7. She also repor ted feeling less depressed, less

emotional, and that she had more energy and motivation.

Results

Pain. Following the intervention, Joyce’s pain as measured by the SFMPQ decreased

from 72 to 38 (Figure 1). At a two-month follow-up, she described the pain as still being

a problem, but stated that she no longer thought about it as much and that it no longer

seemed to occupy such an important place in her life. Tanya’ s pain decreased from 43 to

28. She also regained full movement in her arm to the extent that she was able to perform

most domestic tasks, including washing her hair. She no longer needed surgery . Kylie’s

pain decreased from 66 to 58. At a two-month follow-up, further reductions in pain levels

were reported for all subjects (28, 28, and 34, respectively). At follow-up, two of the

three women reported discontinuing the antidote imagery because of improvements.

Coping. Scores on the CSQ showed a reduction in use of maladaptive strategies and

passive coping strategies following EMDR; there was no change in cognitive coping

strategies, which were not used much by the women. Each participant repor ted improve-

ment (Figures 2, 3, and 4) on the three CSQ subscales, “catastrophizing,” “ability to

control pain,” and “ability to decrease pain.” Kylie indicated at follow-up that her improve-