Anne ultimately walked away from that situation, scared of the future, but relieved. Yet all these years later, there she sat, upset, and angry at herself for her inability to let the emotional impact associated with that time pass. Anne's didn't realize that her daily life in those days had been marked by psychological trauma. To Anne, the concept of trauma meant life-shaking catastrophic events such as earthquakes, floods, wars, or other acts of violence. Since she had not experienced those circumstances, she had no idea that trauma had been part of her life.
Psychological trauma occurs when issues of safety and of trust get shattered.
Such traumas often result in children who are neglected or abused, but also, trauma may happen to adults who experience violations of body, mind or spirit by trusted individuals or institutions on whom they depend. The genesis of EMDR began in 1987 due to an observation Dr. Francine Shapiro made about the way in which her eye movements seemed to eliminate disturbing thoughts she was experiencing. Her intellectual curiosity about this peculiar phenomenon led to further exploration. Her first research study involving Viet Nam Vets diagnosed with PTSD demonstrated positive results. Those results sparked further research.