What is EMDR?

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an integrative therapy that has been extensively researched and proven to help people recover from trauma and PTSD symptoms. Ongoing research supports EMDR as helpful in addressing a variety of other mental health disorders as well.

How is EMDR different from other therapies?

EMDR therapy does not involve talking in detail about distressing memories or doing homework between sessions. Instead, EMDR therapy allows the brain to resume its natural healing process and resolved unprocessed traumatic memories. Treatment length varies for each individual, but often EMDR can be completed in a shorter time period than other types of therapy.

How does EMDR work?

EMDR helps rewire neural networks in the brain so that you can perceive traumatic memories in a more balanced way, decrease triggering and other symptoms of trauma, and strengthen helpful beliefs about yourself.

Our brains know how to reprocess memories, and this typically happens during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. However, our brains can’t reprocess traumatic memories in the usual way, and unprocessed traumatic memories often lead to uncomfortable symptoms. EMDR uses a technique called bilateral stimulation that repeatedly activates alternate sides of the brain while a client is fully awake and aware. Bilateral stimulation allows the brain’s normal information processing to resume.

When can EMDR be helpful?

Although EMDR was originally designed to treat PTSD, ongoing research supports positive clinical outcomes, showing EMDR therapy as a helpful treatment for:

  • Anxiety

  • Social Anxiety

  • Depression

  • Acute Stress Disorder

  • Grief and Loss

  • Birth Trauma

  • OCD

  • Negative core beliefs about oneself, others, and the world

  • Panic Attacks

  • Phobias

For more information about EMDR, please see https://www.emdria.org/about-emdr-therapy/