What is EMDR therapy?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is a psychotherapeutic approach designed to help process difficult experiences. EMDR therapy was created in 1987 by psychologist Dr. Francine Shapiro. This therapy is often described as “magic” by clients and clinicians due to its rapid, transformative ability to dispel deep-seated trauma, often in far fewer sessions than traditional talk therapy. While it may be described as magic, it is a highly structured and evidence-based modality. It is recommended by major health organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO).
EMDR therapy is most commonly understood as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), however, clinicians often use it in the treatment of the following conditions:
Anxiety disorders
Depressive disorders
Dissociative disorders
Eating disorders
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
and other trauma disorders, such as acute stress disorder and adjustment disorder
Diagnoses, although useful for research purposes, do not fully represent our stories. You don’t need a specific diagnosis to benefit from EMDR therapy—and having one doesn’t necessarily mean EMDR is recommended. Beyond diagnoses, EMDR therapy may often help when one feels “stuck” in life. Perhaps someone is stuck in self-blame after a loss, in an ongoing war with their body, or otherwise in patterns that once kept them safe, but no longer serve them today... EMDR therapy works by transforming what’s stuck.
EMDR therapy involves an adaptive information processing (AIP) model that leverages our body’s information-handling system. The AIP model proposes that our brains naturally organize and process experiences; normally, our brains store memories smoothly, but trauma can disrupt this process.
Think: Inside Out!
During disturbing or upsetting events, storing doesn’t happen properly. The brain can go “offline,” or freeze, and there’s then a disconnect between what we experience (feel, hear, see) and what our brain stores. EMDR therapy gives us an opportunity to heal by reprocessing and adaptively integrating these memories.
Importantly, related to the AIP model, EMDR therapy does not only desensitize a difficult memory, but also reprocesses the memory by connecting it to existing adaptive information. Adaptive information is critical in EMDR therapy because it acts as the resource that enables the brain to reprocess dysfunctionally stored and traumatic memories.
For example, an adult client logically knows that perfection is impossible, yet emotionally, may continue to strive for it. A belief that “I have to be perfect” may be developed through various childhood experiences where they felt their best wasn’t enough. Through EMDR therapy, we discover the origins of the belief, why it made sense at the time, and how it continues to shape—and limit—us today. EMDR therapy connects stuck, fragmented memories with the nervous system’s existing healthy, adaptive information.
For the client who is struggling with perfectionism, EMDR therapy helps strengthen her adaptive, realistic understanding of perfection.
For some clients, negative self-beliefs are so pervasive that there is no part of them that believes something like imperfection is acceptable. In EMDR therapy, we don’t ask trauma to resolve in a vacuum. If adaptive information isn’t present, it must be excavated.
Building adaptive information can be helpful for the person whose world seems to reinforce the need to be perfect. Most often, we build adaptive information experientially, for example, when we share an “I-Thou” moment with a beloved pet, or see a sight that takes our breath away, or build secure love.
*An I-Thou moment is a rare, profound, and authentic encounter between two beings, characterized by mutual, present-centered, and non-judgmental engagement. Coined by Martin Buber, this moment marks a shift from treating a being as an object (I-It) to a unique subject (Thou).
Adaptive information can be built in a variety of ways in the therapy setting. The use of the “here-and-now” focus is a rich technique. As clients tend to recreate problems that trouble them in their real lives in the therapy setting, “here-and-now” focuses on what is going on at the moment between a client and therapist (or between client, animal, and therapist with animal-assisted therapy). By examining the details of the therapy relationship, the client and therapist can experience and process something like their own “I-Thou” encounter. Importantly, EMDR therapy is relational! We were never meant to heal trauma on our own.
"Even though you're alone in your boat, it's always comforting to see the lights of the other boats bobbing nearby." - Irvin D. Yalom
Particularly Western culture expects people to deal with their mental health in a silo. In a world so automated by AI, GPS, Amazon, etc., I believe we’ve all grown more accustomed to wishing things simple, fast, and unembodied. What we do in EMDR therapy is unintuitive, particularly for a traumatized nervous system that is wired to steer clear of the present.
Alongside building adaptive information, EMDR therapy helps clients find accessible, supportive ways to bring mindfulness into their worlds. I will often psychoeducate clients that, even if the present moment isn’t necessarily where they would like to be, it’s safer than the worst part of a bad memory or a future worry…
“the present is where we actually are, and it’s the only place we can take actual and specific actions to keep ourselves safe if we need to.”– EMDR with Complex Trauma, Thomas Zimmerman
Once a *container is created, where a client carries enough reliable resources and adaptive information, reprocessing begins. EMDR therapy reprocessing includes intentionally playing a difficult memory, noticing in the here-and-now what comes up, and adding in *bilateral stimulation. All in a controlled environment, with the support of your therapist.
A *container is a safe, imaginary mental space—such as a tightly sealed vault, treasure chest, or tupperware container—used to securely store, or "contain," distressing memories, emotions, or thoughts between therapy sessions.
*Bilateral stimulation (BLS) is a technique that involves rhythmic, alternating left-right sensory input (like eye movements, tapping, or sounds). Bilateral stimulation (BLS) works by engaging both brain hemispheres, which helps the brain reprocess distressing memories by integrating logic and emotion. This rhythmic, side-to-side input, similar to REM sleep, activates neuroplasticity, allowing for new neural connections, while grounding techniques like tapping or eye movements keep you in the present to manage overwhelming feelings. Slow BLS activates our calming, parasympathetic nervous system. For example, consider how we intuitively rock a baby back-and-forth to sound sleep.
I believe we all have an inner sense that distraction keeps us stuck. Moving through proves to be the only way. EMDR therapy is a process. Similar to a marathon, training is needed to cross the finish line. What is magical about EMDR therapy is our ability to come back to our innate strength to heal by way of noticing. Trying to “make sense” of trauma proves difficult, it is nonsensical. At times, it’s existential. In EMDR therapy, there is nothing to figure out, nor fix. The core of EMDR therapy is noticing, “here-and-now” noticing. “Moving through” and noticing moves you further and further down the road towards healing.
“What you need to heal will arrive to you as a byproduct of noticing.” – EMDR with Complex Trauma, Thomas Zimmerman
Yalom (2012) suggests that we need meaning in life, and the lack of meaning is deeply disturbing for us, it is something that we are less likely to find the more we deliberately pursue it. Meaning ensues from meaningful activity; meaningfulness is a byproduct of engagement and commitment —”
Healing is allowing pain to be experienced and processed, and eventually, we realise that the pain ends (Maté, 2010). Unfortunately, when we run away from pain, we run into suffering.
To be clear, I never said EMDR therapy was simple!
EMDR therapy is a transformational trauma therapy that can clear trauma memories, completely and permanently in 1-2 therapy sessions, which is pretty incredible! EMDR therapy is proven to reduce trauma symptoms and improve well-being, however, people show up to therapy differently and, in turn, their experience with EMDR therapy will vary.
Therapists, too, show up with different personalities and styles. The way I do EMDR therapy, which is reflected in this blog post, will vary from how other therapists conduct EMDR therapy.
We have to transform trauma as there can be serious consequences if we don’t. For example, studies show having a high Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) score is correlated with twice the mortality as heavy cigarette smoking. A high ACE score (6 or higher) suggests one’s lifespan may be shortened by up to 20 years.
To complete Yalom’s quote from earlier —
“Similarly, a good health outcome is more like a bonus we gain from our willingness to face existential challenges; it is not the main reason we engage in them in the first place. Illness will always sooner or later hit us. A concept of existential health might highlight some important possibilities in life: In an existential sense you might die healthy, in a medical sense none of us do.”
The depth and intimate nature of this work is a professional gift. Thank you to those who have embarked on their EMDR therapy journey.
