EMDR Therapy
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy for trauma, PTSD, and anxiety disorders.
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Understanding EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a psychotherapy approach developed by Francine Shapiro in the late 1980s. It operates on the principle that psychological distress is often linked to memories of traumatic or disturbing events that were not adequately processed when they occurred.
According to EMDR's Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model, traumatic memories can become "stuck" or stored dysfunctionally, retaining the original distressing perceptions, emotions, and body sensations. This leads to ongoing symptoms being triggered by reminders of the experience.
EMDR uses a standardized eight-phase protocol that includes bilateral stimulation (BLS)—typically side-to-side eye movements, but also auditory tones or taps—delivered while you briefly focus on the traumatic memory. The goal is to facilitate your brain's natural processing mechanisms, allowing the memory to be "reprocessed" and stored adaptively, reducing its disturbing power.
Who Benefits from EMDR
EMDR is primarily and most strongly indicated for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), resulting from experiences such as combat, accidents, assault, abuse, or natural disasters.
If you're struggling with intrusive trauma memories, flashbacks, nightmares, and avoidance behaviors, you may benefit significantly from EMDR's memory reprocessing approach.
Beyond PTSD, EMDR has been explored and shows promise for other conditions where distressing memories or disturbing life events may play a role, including anxiety disorders, depression, and phobias linked to specific distressing experiences.
EMDR is particularly suitable if you find extensive talking about trauma details overwhelming, as it does not require detailed verbal recounting of the experience.
EMDR Techniques
EMDR follows a structured eight-phase protocol:
The Eight Phases
- History Taking & Treatment Planning: Your therapist assesses your readiness and identifies target memories to process.
- Preparation: Your therapist explains EMDR, establishes trust, and teaches you self-regulation and coping skills.
- Assessment: You access the target memory and its components, including the associated image, negative cognition, emotions, and body sensation.
- Desensitization: You process the memory using bilateral stimulation until your distress is reduced.
- Installation: Your therapist helps strengthen a positive cognition linked to the memory.
- Body Scan: You check for residual body tension related to the memory.
- Closure: Your therapist ensures you feel stable at the end of the session.
- Reevaluation: Your therapist assesses your progress at the start of subsequent sessions.
Bilateral Stimulation
The central technique is bilateral stimulation (BLS), most commonly therapist-guided eye movements following the therapist's fingers, or alternatively, auditory tones in headphones or tactile taps from held devices or taps on hands or knees.
What to Expect
The initial sessions focus on history taking, explaining EMDR thoroughly, and preparing for processing by teaching stabilization and coping skills. This preparation phase is crucial before accessing traumatic material.
During processing phases (4-6), you'll be asked to briefly bring a specific disturbing memory to mind, including an associated image, negative belief about yourself, current emotions, and where you feel it in your body. You then focus on this material while engaging in bilateral stimulation—for example, following your therapist's fingers with your eyes—for brief sets.
Between sets, you report what you notice—new thoughts, feelings, images, or sensations—without needing to describe the memory in detail. Your therapist guides the process, following where your mind naturally takes the processing. This continues until the memory feels less disturbing.
Sessions are typically longer than standard talk therapy, often 60-90 minutes, to allow sufficient time for memory processing and closure within a single session. You may experience continued processing between sessions as your brain integrates the work.
Evidence Base
EMDR is recognized as a well-established, evidence-based treatment, particularly for PTSD. It is one of the two treatments most strongly recommended for PTSD by major clinical guidelines.
Organizations endorsing EMDR for trauma and PTSD include the World Health Organization (WHO), American Psychological Association (APA), International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS), and the US Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense (VA/DoD).
Numerous randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have demonstrated its efficacy in significantly reducing PTSD symptoms, often achieving results comparable to trauma-focused CBT but without requiring detailed verbal recounting of the trauma or homework between sessions.
Additional Support
Looking for more guidance? Visit our Learn center for information about starting therapy, or explore helpful resources including crisis support, recommended reading, and wellness tools.
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Frequently Asked Questions
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