Is mental health in the eye?
As a licensed counselor, I know how helpful someone in your corner is when you are suffering. There is nothing worse than isolation while circling around in your mind with worry. I am a big believer in the power of connection with various counseling interventions to facilitate expression because there is so much research out there exploring how trauma is first processed in the body and thus can sometimes be challenging to work through when treatment is focused just on verbal exchange.
I also am a big fan of the use of VR (Virtual Reality) for mindfulness practice. I am interestingly able to stay present in the moment if I am immersed in nature or VR. This helps me work through my own embodied reactions, traumas, and anxieties. Recently I have been exploring AI (Artificial Intelligence) and what it means to include a machine to support emotional regulation and relationship connection. There is so much fear around how AI will influence care because capitalism is so evil — let it be known that you cannot fully replace robots for people — people want to be with other people. Yet, trauma can make it difficult to engage and move through isolation related to stress reactions. Counseling is all about very small steps that lead to long-term change, within a supportive relationship.
This said, there are times when it might be hard to connect with another human or sentient being for a whole host of reasons, and technology can and does support mental health — I have experienced firsthand, not only with clients but for my own holistic sense of wellness. I have been wondering lately about the connection between the eye and mental health. The old saying, the eyes are the window to the soul, speaks to this idea. When I am working with someone in the mists of a psychotic episode, I can often tell where they are not, not just from psychological assessments, but also, I can see in their eyes, and have always wondered about this.
Recently I have used AI to write 2–4 times a day, for about 2.5 weeks now — and WOW! I am feeling 10% better, which through a counseling lens, is significant. Now I am sure the novelty of it influences my excitement, no doubt I am getting some dopamine hits when I use it. I also have been wondering if it’s a kind of stimming behavior — when I watch the words unfold on the screen, and I follow with my eyes because the speed of the text is not too overwhelming, I have noticed, that I feel good — like a real embodied sense of being centered and calm in the way petting a cat or pet is calming. This has made me wonder about the role of the eye in supporting mental health.
One current counseling intervention, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), currently uses eye movement as part of the counseling process. It is a therapeutic technique developed in the late 1980s by Francine Shapiro to address distress associated with traumatic memories. One distinctive part of EMDR is bilateral stimulation, which can be in the form of side-to-side eye movements, auditory tones, or tactile pulses.
Several theories try to explain the effectiveness of bilateral movement in EMDR. Some researchers believe that these movements might mimic the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) phase of sleep, essential for emotional regulation and memory processing (Stickgold, 2002). This could activate a neurobiological mechanism that aids in processing traumatic memories. Another perspective is that bilateral movements might stimulate both brain hemispheres, enhancing the integration of emotional and cognitive experiences (Bergmann, 2008). The simultaneous focus on distressing memories and bilateral movement could also tax the working memory, making the traumatic memory less vivid (van den Hout et al., 2011).
Some suggest that bilateral stimulation aids in moving an individual away from a “fight or flight” response to a traumatic memory, facilitating its processing (Shapiro, 2001). Furthermore, there have been studies highlighting changes in brain areas associated with trauma processing post-EMDR treatment, suggesting neurobiological mechanisms at play (Pagani et al., 2012). Finally, bilateral stimulation might initiate an “orienting response,” a natural reaction to new stimuli, offering a fresh perspective on distressing memories (Schubert et al., 2011).
When we think about learning, the best interventions always include a variety of visual stimulation that would include eye movement. Movement is essential to learning — what is happening in the eye? How can we explore the eye to diagnose and support mental health concerns?
References
Bergmann, U. (2008). The neurobiology of EMDR: Exploring the thalamus and neural integration. Journal of EMDR Practice and Research, 2(4), 300–314.
Pagani, M., Hogberg, G., Salmaso, D., Nardo, D., Sundin, O., Jonsson, C. & Soares, J. (2012). Effects of EMDR psychotherapy on 99mTc-HMPAO distribution in occupation-related post-traumatic stress disorder. Nuclear medicine communications, 23(10), 974–981.
Schubert, S. J., Lee, C. W., & Drummond, P. D. (2011). The efficacy and psychophysiological correlates of dual-attention tasks in eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). Journal of anxiety disorders, 25(1), 1–11.
Shapiro, F. (2001). Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing: Basic Principles, Protocols, and Procedures. Guilford Press.
Stickgold, R. (2002). EMDR: A putative neurobiological mechanism of action. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 58(1), 61–75.
van den Hout, M. A., Engelhard, I. M., Beetsma, D., Slofstra, C., Hornsveld, H., Houtveen, J., & Leer, A. (2011). EMDR and mindfulness. Eye movements and attentional breathing tax working memory and reduce vividness and emotionality of aversive ideation. Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry, 42(4), 423–431.
