ADDRESS:
Eymo balance
Sarpsborggata 1F
0468 OSLO, Norway
Org. number: 991 591 877
CONNECT:
[ mail ]
+47 400 41 879
Story of Eymo
“I can’t do anything,” she said.
“Feel it,” I said and started the light bar.
Her eyes were barely visible between the swollen eyelids. She clearly struggled to follow the light. And after only five, six times from side to side, her eyes stopped moving.
“How do you feel now?” I said.
“I’m weak,” she said, barely audible.
“Think about it,” I said and started the light bar again. But now her eyes were completely still.
“I can’t take it anymore. Can we stop?” she said.
In her mind she was back in the room with the yellow wallpaper. And she didn’t notice the moving green light on the EMDR light bar in front of her, the sound on the earphones or the vibration from the pads in her hands. We were stuck in the worst moment of her life.
This was our 6th session with EMDR. The same thing had happened every time. And it wasn’t getting any better. It doesn’t matter whether the light moves if they eyes don’t follow, I thought. If only I could make her move. In the following sessions, we tried a lot of different things. Throwing a ball back and forth between us helped her get back to the here and now, but she couldn’t combine it with thinking or talking about the horrible event.
If only I could just get the patient to move… was the driving force behind the idea of Eymo balance.
In collaboration with Torbjørn Helgesen, who had experience with 3D models and CNC technology, we developed a wooden tool with a concave groove for a marble.
You give it to the patient. Who then tilts it so that the marble rolls from one side to the other. Who feel the wooden handle in their hands. Feel the vibration from the marble. Hear it rolling. And follow it with their eyes. The therapist can observe from a distant. Or close enough to physically assist, if needed, or just hand the tool back and forth between sets.
The first patient whom I attempted to use this on, was a young man with Asperger’s syndrome.
We had used the light bar to process memories of a childhood with a controlling and violent father. The first few sessions had gone well. But in the fourth or fifth session he suddenly felt that I was like his father, and that by controlling his eye movements, I was controlling all of him. We had to cancel the treatment that session.
The same thing happened the next session. We tried sound and vibrations, but it made no difference. He still felt I was controlling him. I then brought out the Eymo balance tool, and he agreed to try. With a curious look he tilted the wooden tool and let his gaze follow the marble. A smile appeared on his face. I like it, he said. He had regained control of himself.
The next patient I used it on was an Asian woman with very limited mimicry and body language, which made her difficult to read.
It made using the light bar difficult. But with Eymo balance, she revealed her emotions through how she rolled the marble. When she felt helpless, the marble rolled so, so slowly, as if pushing it was an uphill struggle and she just wanted to lie down. When she dissociated, it stopped completely. And when she felt anger, she rolled so quick and hard that the marble smashed back and forth.
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The Founder
Hans Petter Schrader works as a psychiatrist at Oslo University Hospital. He began his medical studies in 1992 and did two years’ research in cell biology before graduating in 2000. He worked in general health care and emergency care for several years, as well as various creative projects on the side, before turning to psychiatry in 2009.
His driving force has always been finding new ways to treat patients. In his practice he has developed several aids which he uses and has shared with colleagues. Eymo balance is the first tool he launches for a broader professional environment.
Presentingthe Eymo
Eymo balance is a new device for trauma treatment. The Eymo is carved out of wood. Spruce is used, which is a lighter type of tree that gives a comfortable grip and more pleasant sound for the marble.
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