Feeling Nothing, Healing Nothing: How Emotional Numbness Blocks CBT Success

It stands to reason that trauma takes on many forms and limitations when unhealed or unresolved. Even after years of therapy, some patients may still face the reality of dealing with the results of trauma if their treatment is ineffective. Could it be that there is a reason for this? Let's dive into the possible cause of trauma stagnation.

What is Emotional Numbness?

Medical News Today defines emotional numbness (EN) as a form of dissociation resulting from severe stress or PTSD. This emotional disconnection can be temporary; however, those with severe or persistent experiences should consult a physician for treatment. 

You may be wondering what emotional numbness looks like. Here are several symptoms of EN that you should be mindful of:

• feeling disconnected from one’s body or thoughts 
• feeling detached from the outside world
• feeling like an outsider in one’s own life 
• a distorted or confused sense of time 
• difficulty connecting with others 
• a reduced ability to sense, process, and respond to emotions and physical signals 

Although these symptoms may resemble depression or cognitive issues, they are the result of suppressed trauma that is exhibited in the form of emotional disconnection to one's physical body, life, and community. 

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Emotional Numbness

The more traditional treatment for emotional numbness has been Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), which is a version of talk therapy that relies on the patient to talk through their emotions. It provides tools and resources that demonstrate how to manage stress and grief. Most patients require fewer sessions than other therapies because of the structured methodology. This sounds promising to many people who continually suffer from stress and grief, but for those few who have dissociated their emotions, expecting them to verbalize and directly address that trauma is more than challenging. When there is a block preventing emotional retrieval, there is a limited ability to articulate those feelings, which renders the talk therapy inadequate to treat the patient. Simply put, how can a person unable to access their emotions discuss how they are feeling or why they feel a certain way? It is not a case of a lack of vocabulary or capability. There is a disconnection that must be repaired for the patient to even understand how the trauma affects them. This is the dilemma of traditional talk therapy or CBT.

How does EMDR bridge the gap?

Although eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR) is a relatively novel method employed by therapists, studies have proven the therapy to be quite effective. In many cases, EMDR shows faster results than traditional methodologies, reducing the number of sessions needed for treatment. EMDR treats the patient by allowing them to access their repressed traumas stored in the brain and acknowledge their emotions at that time without the need to verbalize their feelings. The emotions are "reconnected" or simply recognized. Guided therapy helps the patient to "reprocess" their traumatic memories, allowing the brain to repair the emotional damage in a safe and supported environment. The patient is then able to relive experiences without the negative feelings associated with the trauma. All of this is accomplished without the requirement of speaking. 

Imagine a person who has a history of childhood trauma and years later is still affected by it. This person is withdrawn from family and untrusting of people. Their work suffers because of poor sleep and isolation from their community. Suppose this person were to receive traditional CBT. In that case, their therapist may expect them (over several sessions) to open up and discuss their trauma in detail and talk through their depression and anxiety. This may be a difficult task for them. They may not be able to articulate their emotions or even understand their experiences as the source of their trauma. The therapy may be wholly inadequate to address their mental state and help them through their trauma because of the embedded deficiencies of the therapy itself. Now, imagine that same person undergoing EMDR therapy. The practitioner uses eye movement and a structured method to help the person access memories and process them in a strategic way that heals the mental injury without the need to articulate the memories or trauma. This method would prove more successful than CBT and require fewer sessions, healing the patient quicker than traditional therapies. 

Takeaway

As the mental health field advances, more effective treatments will be developed and implemented in practices worldwide. Today, EMDR is showing practitioners that there is a better, quicker, and more effective method to treat patients who suffer from trauma. CBT is not obsolete and is still useful in certain cases, but why not take advantage of newer therapies that can help a broader population of people? Many patients have been healed through EMDR, and study after study supports the results of this therapy. If you suffer from trauma, grief, or depression and it is affecting your life, EMDR is a valuable method to find relief. Your healing starts today!

"Have you tried CBT or EMDR for emotional numbness? Share your experience in the comments!"