olfactory cues
 

Has anyone else had experience of working with intrusive smells resulting from trauma using EMDR? I was working with a couple who had been held up at gunpoint in their home and the husband was troubled by various smells associated with the hold-up.

Re: olfactory cues
 

Surely. Its very common for olfaction to be an issue in PTSD. Any of the following channels can be dissociated at the time of trauma: visual, olfactory, kinesthetic, behavioral, auditory, taste, cognitive, emotional. They breakthrough in dreams or flashes indicating, like a sliver, it wants out. EMDR can enable that raw material to be processed to resolution. Voila, No more flashbacks.