EMDR: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
What is EMDR?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a structured, evidence-based psychotherapy originally developed to help people recover from traumatic experiences and PTSD.
EMDR is different from traditional talk therapy because you don't necessarily have to spend session after session describing every detail of what happened.
Instead, EMDR helps you identify experiences that may still feel emotionally or physically unresolved and supports your brain in processing them in a new way.
During EMDR, we may work with the memories, beliefs, emotions, body sensations, and present-day triggers connected to an experience. Bilateral stimulation—such as guided eye movements or alternating taps—may be used while you briefly attend to aspects of the experience.
Our goal is to help you remember memories without your nervous system responding as though the experience is happening all over again.
EMDR is particularly well established as a treatment for PTSD and trauma-related difficulties, and it is also used clinically with a range of other concerns.
Why EMDR?
EMDR can be especially helpful when insight alone hasn't been enough.
You may understand why you feel the way you do and still find yourself reacting automatically.
You may have talked about an experience many times and still feel like your body is carrying it.
You may have developed coping strategies that helped you survive but no longer fit the life you're trying to build.
EMDR allows us to work not only with the story you can tell about an experience, but also with the emotions, beliefs, physical sensations, and survival responses that may still be connected to it.
And importantly, you don't have to tell me every detail of what happened for us to do meaningful work.
EMDR is not about forcing yourself to relive trauma.
It is about creating enough safety and support for your brain and nervous system to process what you are ready to process.
How does EMDR work?
When your brain hasn't been able to fully process an experience, it can continue to feel present.
Our brains naturally process experiences and incorporate them into our broader understanding of ourselves and the world. But when something is overwhelming, frightening, or happens when we don't have the resources to process it, aspects of the experience can remain distressingly "stuck."
You may notice this when:
You know something is over, but your body doesn't seem to know it.
A situation from years ago still feels surprisingly vivid.
Certain situations trigger a reaction that feels bigger than the present moment.
You find yourself avoiding people, places, conversations, or situations.
You understand intellectually that something wasn't your fault, but you still feel shame.
You repeatedly find yourself in familiar relational or emotional patterns.
EMDR works within the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model, which proposes that symptoms can develop when distressing experiences have not been adequately integrated or processed. EMDR uses a structured process to help you access and reprocess these experiences toward a more adaptive resolution.
Then there is change
With successful processing, the memory doesn't necessarily disappear. Instead, it can become less emotionally charged and less connected to the sense that you are in danger right now.
You may be able to think:
"That happened to me."
instead of:
"This is happening to me."
You may still remember what happened. You simply don't have to keep experiencing it in the same way.
What can I expect from EMDR?
EMDR isn't simply one technique used during a therapy session. It is a structured treatment approach that includes multiple phases.
1. The relationship is the start.
Before processing memories, we spend time getting to know you and the nuances of your experience. Taking this time allows us to build a relationship and start a foundation of safety for future trauma processing.
4. We begin reprocessing when you feel ready.
During EMDR processing, I will guide you through the protocol while you briefly attend to aspects of the experience.
Bilateral stimulation may involve eye movements, alternating sounds, or tapping.
You remain in control throughout the process. You can pause, slow down, or stop at any time.
2. Adding to the safety bucket.
Your ability to have a foot in the present is pivotal. We may work with grounding, nervous-system regulation, visualization, and other strategies that help you feel more equipped to navigate difficult emotions as they arise in future reprocessing. Feeling safe enough to do the work is the only way to do the work.
5. Your experience may shift.
People experience EMDR differently.
You may notice memories, emotions, thoughts, physical sensations, images, or connections between experiences emerging and changing.
You don't have to force anything to happen.
My role is to help you stay oriented, supported, and curious about what your mind and body are bringing forward.
3.Collaborate on specific memories of focus.
Together, we identify experiences, present-day triggers, beliefs, or patterns that may be contributing to what you're experiencing now. This might be one specific event or it may involve a series of experiences, particularly when working with complex or relational trauma.
6. We connect the work to your life now.
EMDR isn't only about the past.
We also look at how past experiences may be influencing your relationships, confidence, boundaries, work, emotional responses, or sense of safety today.
The goal is not simply to feel better in the therapy room.
The goal is to experience more freedom outside of it.
EMDR follows an eight-phase treatment structure, beginning with history and preparation and moving through assessment, processing, installation, body awareness, closure, and reevaluation.
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