In September 2023, Bruno Guillon, his partner and their son faced a home-jacking, a nocturnal attack within their home. Handcuffed and assaulted in front of his family, the host will long bear traces of post-traumatic stress, which he will later speak openly about. Persistent fear, hypervigilance, overwhelming emotions: the trauma continues to act long after the danger has passed.
But today he seems to have found a certain calm, thanks to specific therapy.
Three sessions to erase trauma?
It’s on the microphone of the show We’re doing TV againon RTL, on Saturday January 31, as he talks about this personal turning point. EMDR and its effectiveness.
“I’ll be very honest, I followed therapy, it’s called EMDR. It’s a trauma therapy, which was created at the time for the military in Afghanistan”he confides. “I really went there thinking, “This isn’t going to work.” (…) The second session, not much. And the third one, it cleared it up for me. So I can talk about it without crying, and then life goes on.”
A striking testimony, which questions: how can therapy, in a few sessions, transform such heavy trauma?
The delicate case of trauma in psychology
“EMDR is in fact today recommended as first-line treatment for trauma”recalls Amelie Boukhobza, trained in this practice.
And to specify: “Trauma is not just a painful event. It’s an experience that hasn’t been integrated by the brain.”
Normally, an event is processed, classified, stored in autobiographical memory. But when the fear is too intense, a feeling of imminent death, of helplessness, of astonishment, the system can block.
The memory then remains in its raw, undigested state.
It can then resurface in the form of flashes, intrusive images, nightmares, sudden anxiety or hypervigilance.
“The body reacts even before the head understands”explains the psychologist.
We speak of trauma for any past event which continues to have repercussions in the present, but also when a negative belief about oneself is associated: “I’m in danger”, “it’s my fault”, “I can’t do anything”, “I’m going to die”.
In the case of a homejacking, an assault or an accident, the brain can continue to function as if the danger was still there. This is precisely where EMDR comes in.
How does EMDR actually work?
Contrary to popular belief, EMDR is not just about “moving your eyes”. “It is a global, very structured therapy, which aims to relaunch the natural information processing system of the brain, where it has become blocked.explains Amélie Boukhobza.
During a session, a specific memory is identified: an image, an emotion, a negative belief, but also bodily sensations. Because in EMDR, the body is a central actor in the therapeutic work.
The patient connects to these elements while being subjected to alternating bilateral stimulation, most often through eye movements, but also sometimes through tapping or sounds. RIGHT. LEFT. RIGHT. LEFT.
This back and forth engages both cerebral hemispheres and allows the memory to transform. “What was intrusive becomes more distant. The memory does not disappear, but it ceases to act as a permanent alarm”summarizes the psychologist.
Who is EMDR indicated for?
EMDR is particularly recommended after clearly identifiable traumas: attacks, accidents, violence, burglaries, attacks, disasters, bereavements, breakups.
But it is also used in more diffuse situations: such as old traumas, repeated relational wounds, early experiences never verbalized but always muted. “It is not necessary to remember everything for it to work. The work involves the body as much as the spoken word”specifies Amélie Boukhobza.
What results can we expect?
Like Bruno Guillon, patients do not speak of forgetting, but of appeasement.
“This is what we can identify as a distancing. An emotional neutralization. The memory is still there, but it no longer overflows” evokes the expert.
The body relaxes. Sleep returns. Disproportionate reactions are diminishing.
“EMDR does not erase what has happened”concludes the psychologist. “It allows you to put the event back in its place: in the past. And it is often at this moment that something is reopened, the ability to project oneself, to feel safe, to regain control over one’s life.”