Can EMDR Help? Four Insights to Help You Decide

EMDR has recently gained popularity with celebrities and is popping up in TV shows. Maybe you’ve heard of EMDR from a friend, or your talk therapist has mentioned it as a treatment option. EMDR – Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing – is a type of therapy that uses bilateral stimulation or eye movements to help clients process and desensitize traumatic experiences and beliefs. It has quickly gained popularity since it was first developed, and is now one of the leading evidence-based therapies for trauma and PTSD.

Where did it come from?

EMDR was discovered and developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro in 1987 when she was taking a walk in the park one day. As she was thinking through events in her life, she started to notice that her own traumatic experiences were less distressing when she moved her eyes back and forth between the trees on either side of the path. She realized that the back and forth eye movements were able to desensitize emotionally charged experiences, and after doing some research she found this to be true for other people as well. As she continued her research, Dr. Shapiro added a cognitive component and developed the procedure for what we now call EMDR. 

What is EMDR for?

While EMDR was initially used to treat trauma and PTSD (flashbacks, distressing memories, intense emotional responses, etc.), it’s also effective with phobias, dissociation, pain disorders related to a medical condition, negative beliefs about self and others, addictions, anxiety, childhood neglect, and emotional abuse. EMDR is typically more effective over the course of several sessions for a single traumatic incident such as a car crash, whereas processing multiple incidents of emotional abuse may need quite a few more sessions before there is a noticeable change.

What’s the process like?

EMDR has an impact on the way that the brain processes information and memories, working to release emotional experiences that are trapped in the nervous system. A therapist who is trained in EMDR will help you to identify a disturbing memory that is then paired with a thought or feeling. Next, the therapist will use bilateral stimulation (something that will stimulate both the left and right sides of your body like eye movements or tapping) to help you begin processing. During the bilateral stimulation the disturbing memories are reprocessed by the brain, taking painful and distressing emotions and replacing them with feelings of peace and resolution. 

How does EMDR help?

One major benefit of EMDR is that it doesn’t require the client to talk much about the incident that is being processed. Sometimes, talking about a traumatic event can be re-traumatizing, and with EMDR most of the processing is happening in the brain and body. Many people also report making progress faster using EMDR than with traditional talk therapy. Other benefits of EMDR include improving mood, more self-compassion and understanding of past experiences, improving self-worth, and a less intense psychological response to traumatic experiences that were previously triggering. 

If you’d like to begin EMDR therapy, reach out for a session and we’ll go more in depth into what the process looks like. And if you have other questions about EMDR, feel free to reach out for a phone consultation. The EMDR Institute also has a page with FAQ’s.