A local psychologist is training others to help area soldiers back from Iraq.

Fort Lewis soldiers returning from war with lasting psychological trauma will have access to a promising form of treatment later this month, thanks to the expertise of a Bainbridge Island psychologist.

Sandra Paulsen has just finished training 80 military mental health professionals at Naval Hospital Bremerton in the therapy known as EMDR, or “eye movement desensitization and reprocessing.” Phase two of the training will resume in May.

While the therapy has been used to treat trauma victims in Veteran’s Administration hospitals and clinics for years, the Defense Department recently approved its use with combat troops now returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

“This is an exciting development, because it means that soldiers returning from war can receive this treatment sooner, rather than later,” said Paulsen, who has been using EMDR in her practice since 1991.

A key part of her work is training other mental health professionals to use the technique.

During the training of military personnel, Paulsen is working closely with Cmdr. Mark Russell, a clinical psychologist at Naval Hospital Bremerton. He is delivering the lectures, and she is facilitating the training workshops.

During EMDR therapy, the patient visualizes and discusses his or her source of trauma while the practitioner uses a back-and-forth hand movement or light – sometimes even sound – to stimulate eye movement.

Paulsen said this is believed to stimulate the brain in such a way that the harmful thoughts can be nuetralized over time, with guidance from the therapist.

“It’s like the doors break open and all the stuff inside the closet falls out,” she said, with patients often discovering that their most stubborn traumas are linked to similar feelings or incidents in childhood.

“In EMDR, we also can remove the things that might get in the way of enjoying life, things like trouble with relationships, phobias, and performance anxiety.”

While some in the medical field are skeptical of the technique, Paulsen said that dozens of studies cite its efficacy for trauma as well as depression and other mental health problems.

The Defense Department’s endorsement of the technique to treat post traumatic stress disorder is a “huge” advancement for the practice, Paulsen said.

The military is also taking more proactive steps to diagnose mental health problems in returning troops.

Beginning in April, the Pentagon will administer mental health assessments for all active duty personnel upon their return home.

Roughly 15 percent of combat troops returning from Iraq are affected by symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, with symptoms including nightmares, flashbacks, numbness, aches and pains, anxiety and sleeplessness, according to a recent report by the New England Journal of Medicine.

Trained as a cognitive behaviorist in a “hard-nosed clinical program” at the University of Hawaii, Paulsen was introduced to EMDR by a fellow clinician and, “I could feel something happening in my brain right away,” she said.

She immediately pursued training in the practice and is now considered a “senior practioner” in the field, who consults and lectures on the technique all over the world.

Paulsen moved from the San Francisco Bay Area to Bainbridge Island in September, and has a clinic in Winslow.

“I had been trained that the best way to change emotions was to change thinking and behavior,” she said. “I am now using (EMDR) in my practice because it is so much more powerful.”

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Traumatic readings

Paulsen will give a free public lecture on her work, “Transforming Trauma and Enhancing Perfor-mance,” 7:30 p.m. on March 8, at Grace Episcopal Church. For more information on EMDR, see www.emdr.com.