Bilateral Stimulation Butterfly Hug
Bilateral simply means both sides of the body and this form of stimulation has a specific.
Bilateral stimulation butterfly hug. As she was walking shapiro she noticed that some distressing feelings she was having about a particular situation suddenly ceased. The butterfly hug is a form of bilateral stimulation that i suggest my client use in between emdr sessions or even during a therapy session to relax and calm them self when they need to do so. During in vivo exposure use the butterfly hug to process the traumatic experience. Flap one hand like a butterfly wing against your chest then the other.
Bilateral stimulation is a treatment element of emdr. The butterfly hug was originated and developed by lucina artigas m a m t and ignacio jarero ed d ph d m t. Instruction for the butterfly hug method. The butterfly hug bh is a self administer bilateral stimulation bls method like the eye movement or tapping to process traumatic material for an individual or for group work.
Ignacio graciously gave me permission to share this with you. Based on emdr anxiety release works by stimulating the brain with bilateral stimulation alternating audio and or visual stimuli which captures attention processes and diverts emotional resources. Instead of the clinicians being in charge of the bilateral stimulation the client is asked to do the butterfly hug for 1 to 3 minutes during the reprocessing phases 4 5 and 6. The emdr therapy butterfly hug method for self administer bilateral stimulation during in vivo exposure.
Desensitization self soothing is a reprocessing byproduct using the bh as bls. One easy technique is the butterfly hug. You can also buy devices that you can wear or music that incorporates this technique through headphones. It was discovered accidentally by francine shapiro phd as she was walking in a park in the late 1980 s.