In a post on Instagram Mötley Crüe bassist and main lyricist Nikki Sixx revealed that he is undergoing EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy.
In the post ( via Blabbermouth ), Sixx says that treatment is "a golden ticket" for those who want change, and also says that he "lives for change." The musician wished everyone a happy new year and stated that he is on a "deep, reflective journey."
What is EMDR therapy?
Created in the 1990s, the treatment accesses traumatic memories in specific ways through eye movements and guided instructions, such as bilateral brain stimulation. In this way, therapists can help the patient reprocess what they remember of the event and what caused the trauma.
According to the Cleveland Clinic , reprocessing "repairs" the mental damage of that memory, so that when recalled, the patient will no longer relive it, and feelings associated with it will be easier to control.
The WHO (World Health Organization), however, disputes the effectiveness of the treatment, since the evidence presents conflicting results for it to be officially legalized. Studies have indicated that the therapy is not very effective compared to other psychotherapeutic methods.
Sixx's traumas occurred in his childhood.
In 2019, Sixx – whose birth name is Frank Carlton Serafino Feranna, Jr. – revealed to The Guardian that at the age of three, he saw his father abandon his family and that he had a "shitty upbringing." The bassist also mentioned that he had spent more on therapy than most rock stars spend on cars.
Another traumatic moment occurred when he was six years old, when his mother called his grandparents asking them to pick him up, but according to Sixx, as soon as they arrived, she "left with a guy in a truck."
“At my deepest core, what haunts me the most and still haunts me is the feeling of abandonment — my father leaving when I was a child and my mother leaving, one at three, one at six. I never got over that, it’s a horrible feeling,” Sixx told Neon Sunsets .
"They always come back to these childhood problems; you still carry them with you, they're, like, in your DNA."
The name change occurred due to paternal abandonment.
“I changed my name because of a long journey battling with a guy who turned away from me named Frank Serafino — who was my father — and I said, ‘Fuck it, I’m going to reinvent myself, you weren’t there for me, and I’m going to become a man named Nikki, create my own family and fuck you over’,” she explained.
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