Mel B Is Undergoing a Controversial PTSD Treatment Called EMDR

EMDR treats trauma victims with a combination of psychotherapy and hypnosis-like eye movements.

By Jenae Sitzes, The Cheat Sheet

• Spice Girl Mel B is seeking out treatment for alcohol and sex issues related to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and will enter a UK-based rehab center next month, according to The Sun
• She's undergoing a treatment called EMDR, which stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing and bears some similarities to hypnosis
• EMDR is somewhat controversial—some have derided it as a pseudoscience—but several professional organizations, including the American Psychiatric Association, the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, and the Departments of Defense and of Veterans Affairs, have thrown their support behind the treatment

Mel B will check herself into rehab for alcohol and sex issues and is currently undergoing treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, the Spice Girls singer (whose full name is Melanie Brown) told British tabloid The Sun on Sunday. While it was originally reported that she was seeking treatment for alcohol and sex addiction, Mel B clarified in an interview on The Ellen Show that she's not an alcoholic or sex addict, although she did use those things to "ease her pain."

"The past six months have been incredibly difficult for me," Brown said. "Sometimes it is too hard to cope with all the emotions I feel. But the problem has never been about sex or alcohol—it is underneath all that. I am fully aware I have been at a crisis point. No one knows myself better than I do, but I am dealing with it."

Brown revealed that working on her upcoming book, Brutally Honest, has surfaced "massive issues" that she suppressed following her divorce from film producer Stephan Belafonte, whom she has claimed physically and emotionally abused her for years. The singer said she's been diagnosed with PTSD and has begun a controversial form of psychotherapy known as EMDR, which stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing.

"After trying many different therapies, I started a course of therapy called EMDR, which in a nutshell works on the memory to deal with some of the very painful and traumatic situations I have been through. I don’t want to jinx it, but so far it’s really helping me," she said. "If I can shine a light on the issue of pain, PTSD and the things men and women do to mask it, I will."

What is EMDR therapy?

During an EMDR session, the patient focuses on the traumatic image or thought in their mind while watching a therapist's finger or wand move back-and-forth—similar to classic Hollywood hypnotism. While doing this, the therapist then instructs the patient to let their mind go blank and notice what thoughts, feelings, and images naturally come to mind. The therapist will gently guide the patient in shifting their negative thoughts into more positive ones.

The approach was invented by psychologist Francine Shapiro in the 1980s to treat anxiety connected to PTSD, but many therapists have since begun using the treatment for other conditions including depression, schizophrenia, and eating disorders, according to Scientific American.

Understanding how EMDR works requires understanding PTSD on a neurological level, explains Paul Hokemeyer, PhD, an addiction and relationship psychotherapist based in New York City and Telluride, Colorado. When you experience a traumatic event, it can rewire your brain to trigger a disproportionately intense stress reaction every time you encounter any situation that even remotely resembles the original trauma, he tells Prevention. (That's why the stereotypical representation of someone with PTSD is a soldier panicking when a car backfires.) The methodical eye movements work, "in essence, by enabling the brain's neurons to rewire away from the trauma and into a less reactive state," says Hokemeyer.

Some experts believe the eye movements help diminish the symptoms of PTSD by reducing the vividness and stressfulness of traumatic memories and images. Another explanation: each time a memory is recalled, it's filed away slightly different than before, with certain aspects left out or changed, Chris Lee, a clinical psychologist and associate professor at the University of Western Australia, told Scientific American. The eye movements of EMDR may force the traumatic memory to make space for newer, less intense sensations.

Does EMDR actually work?

That's up for debate. Research has shown that EMDR can help ease stress related to PTSD and is more effective than several non-validated treatments like relaxation and active listening (when a therapist listens attentively but doesn't intervene in their thought process). But other research has shown that EMDR may be no more effective than standard cognitive behavioral therapy. And it's easy for naysayers to dismiss the technique as a pseudoscience.

What we do know for sure is that EMDR is a much better choice than not seeking treatment for PTSD at all. This research has validated EMDR enough that several professional organizations—the American Psychiatric Association, the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, and the Departments of Defense and of Veterans Affairs—have thrown their support behind the treatment.

As an addiction and relationship therapist, Hokemeyer says he recommends EMDR frequently. "Its success, however, depends of the integrity of the therapeutic relationship the patient has with the clinician providing the actual EMDR treatment and me, the primary therapist making the referral," he says. "This heightened level of care is essential because EMDR requires the patient to reprocess their original trauma."

Other treatments for PTSD

Hokemeyer says he generally recommends EMDR for patients who suffer from "attachment disorders," which stem from "situations where the patient was abandoned or betrayed early in their life by a primary caregiver." This group includes people who were given up for adoption at birth, people who grew up with a pathologically narcissistic parent, or those with an addictive disorder, he explains.

EMDR treatment may not be appropriate for all patients, however. "These include patients who suffer from borderline personality disorder or other severe trauma where it would be unsafe to refer them out of their primary psychotherapeutic relationship with me," says Hokemeyer. "For these patients, we work in the realm of talk therapy to deactivate their traumatic wiring through a more subtle treatment strategy."

There are many different types of talk therapy, including cognitive behavioral therapy, a trauma-focused approach to help you process negative memories, and present-centered therapy, a non-trauma focused approach that looks at how those negative memories affect your daily life and finds solutions to help reduce those effects.

If you have symptoms of PTSD and are not yet seeking treatment, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs provides a PTSD Treatment Decision Aid to help you learn more about the various treatment options. You can use this as a jump-off point to start the conversation with your mental health provider.


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