Let’s Perform: EMDR and Performance-Based Stressors

The pressures that come with performing at any level can be debilitating, fortunately, in our experience, EMDR can be an incredibly beneficial modality for helping individuals and groups in performance spaces shift the way they experience and respond to stress to prepare, perform, and recover more adaptively. While Lendl and Foster’s (2009) EMDR Performance Protocol (EMDR-PEP) is an excellent place to start when it comes to adapting standard protocol, there are other important considerations for practitioners to keep in mind when implementing EMDR with performers.

History-Taking and Resourcing through a Polyvagal Lens

When assessing the client’s presenting concern, it is important to notice how different behaviors, reactions, and responses can be adaptive in high stress environments like sports, medicine, and business whereas maladaptive in other settings like school, social settings, personal relationships. Providing performers with psychoeducation about Polyvagal Theory and basic brain Neurobiology can help these clients make sense of and validate their experiences.

Clients may be experiencing moments of “stuckness” associated with a Dorsal Vagal response or having difficulty shifting out of a complete Sympathetic Response, and the goal of resourcing is to help them gain access to their Ventral Vagal, socially connected brain.

In the initial phases of EMDR, we begin to lay the groundwork of supporting the client as they allow their system to orient differently to the stressor(s) to be able to respond in more adaptive ways.

Three useful resources to install in this phase of treatment include:

1. Orienting to perform (adapted from the Orienting to Safety protocol (Lidov, 2017)),

2. Future self RDI (Kase, 2021), and

3. Installing teammate, coach, and/or leader allies.

Orienting to Perform

Similar to the “Orienting to Safety” protocol, the goal of this resource is to help the performer more accurately access and tune into their bodies level of and feelings of physical safety in their present environment, whether that be the field, court, operating room, or on stage. Neuroception is our brain’s unconscious capacity to detect and alert us to cues of threat or safety; in this protocol, we teach our clients to tune into their environments, the people in it, and their bodies. This allows their brains and bodies to work together to appropriately respond to environmental cues and demands with awareness and agency.

Steps:

1. Acknowledge the unhelpful thought and meet it with compassion (“thank you,” “I appreciate you”), and notice where in your body you are holding any tension.

2. Remind yourself that you are safe (if you are safe), and recognize what safety means. “It’s okay to feel safe when you are safe, and you’re safe right now.” Take a breath, invite in a sense of calm, and exhale tension in your body.

3. Anchor yourself in the present moment to a tangible aspect of your immediate experience (e.g., feet on the ground, eye on the ball, hands on the bat, visual cue).

4. Make a decision to act with intention using the physical skills you have worked hard to build.

   1. Orient to the environment—what are important environmental cues and stimuli to be aware of?

   2. Orient to the people—who do you see, and purpose do they serve?

   3. Orient to yourself and the cues in your body—is it okay to feel safe when you are safe? Can you perform differently if you feel physically safe, knowing that you cannot guarantee safety in the future?

Keep reading to learn more on how we can continue to support the athletes we work with through an AIP perspective

Future self RDI

If clients are presenting with access to their Ventral Vagal complex, the future self RDI can be an impactful exercise to facilitate the creation of a template for desired future responses to stress while working through any potential roadblocks that can be addressed in processing. Using the script from the protocol developed by Kase & CO, clinicians can probe how the client’s future self would reflect on their coping, if they were to reflect positively. This can be a great way to introduce the client to bilateral stimulation and assess their tolerance for it, as well. Cultivating their future desired template in this way can help clients begin to access adaptive networks associated with more effective coping with stress activation.

Teammate / Inner Coach Allies

Building in allies during processing can be an effective way to help athlete-clients shift their relationship to previous stressful experiences and help them move through present and future stressors with more internal support. While allies can be installed during Phase 2, we encourage clinicians to jump into processing as soon as the client is ready—and in our experience, many athletes are ready sooner than you may think! Introducing allies that represent supportive teammates or inspiring coaches/leaders can help clients shift maladaptive material associated with limiting negative cognitions, overwhelming emotions, or debilitating body sensations.

Reprocessing and Reevaluation

While standard protocol is always a useful place to start, we are reminded of a previous blog post in which clinicians are encouraged to deviate from this when clinically relevant to meet the client where they are. For some, that may result in beginning in the present or focusing initially on future template. For others, that may mean following sport-related themes in present-prong that result in a deviation away from sport-focused targets. Trusting yourself, the process, and the client’s system is crucial in these phases of treatment. Having gratitude for what shows up and trusting that the client’s system knows where it needs to go to heal can facilitate incredible shifts in the client’s sport experience and life.

Stress is inherent and necessary for performance. EMDR and the AIP Model provides an

exceptional framework for beginning to help performers shift their relationship to stress and

utilize the most adaptive neural networks based on the current environmental demands.

Creative ideas tailored to performers can drastically alter their experience and ability to more

quickly return to peak performance— while also building resilience, promoting enjoyment, and

bolstering overall wellbeing.