Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

EMDR therapy (Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) is a therapy technique used to guide people to heal from trauma or other distressing life experiences. 

The mind can heal itself naturally, the same way the body does. During REM sleep, the brain naturally processes events you experience throughout the day. Most of the time, your body routinely manages new information and experiences without you being aware of it. Sometimes you experience a traumatizing event or are repeatedly subject to distress and your body’s natural coping mechanism becomes overwhelmed and uncertain how to process the event. These experiences become frozen or “unprocessed” and stored in a “raw” emotional form, rather than a verbal “story” mode.  

These memories, along with the emotions and physical sensations, are maintained in an isolated memory network, disconnected from the brain’s cortex, where we use language to store memories. Since these memories are “frozen” away from language, they may be continually triggered when you experience events similar to the difficult experiences you have been through. The memory itself is unable to be recalled, but the feelings such as anxiety, panic, anger or despair are continually triggered in the present. EMDR helps create the connections between the networks, enabling your brain to process the experience in its natural form. 

This powerful intervention combines mindfulness, imagery and cognitive techniques into a structured treatment plan designed to meet each individual’s specific therapeutic needs. In EMDR therapy, healing occurs through the process of stimulating the client’s intrinsic capacity to heal. It is based on the premise that the mind and body are naturally designed to work towards healing and mental wellness.

EMDR uses the natural healing ability of your body. During your first session, we will discuss life experiences and how they may be affecting you today. We will map out a treatment plan that explores all aspects of a person’s life. That could include their attachment background, trauma history, personal coping skills and internal and external resources. A EMDR specific treatment plan will be formulated to ensure we reach your goals for therapy.   

In session, you will use “tappers,” a gentle vibrating device you will hold in your hands, to create eye movements. The tappers assist your body in creating eye movements similar to the movements your body naturally experiences during REM sleep.  During this time, your body will go where it needs to go to process any thoughts, images or feelings it needs to relate to your experience. With repeated sets of eye movements, the memory processes and tends to change in such a way that it loses its painful intensity and simply becomes a neutral memory of an event in the past. Other associated memories may also heal at the same time. The processing of related memories can lead to a dramatic and rapid improvement in many aspects of your life.

One or more sessions are needed in the initial phases of EMDR to set up the treatment plan and practicing the mindfulness coping skills to assist you with symptoms between sessions and during reprocessing. After completion of the initial phases of EMDR and you feel ready, we will move into the desensitization and reprocessing phase. With insurance limitations, these sessions last 60 to 90 minutes. The length of time to reprocess your experience varies from person to person. Sometimes it may take 2-3 sessions for a single incident trauma to several sessions for an experience with multiple negative beliefs attached to the memory. Regardless if the memory is “cleared” in the session, most people do begin to experience relief in symptoms within 1-3 EMDR sessions.

In session, you will use “tappers,” a gentle vibrating device you will hold in your hands, to create eye movements. The tappers assist your body in creating eye movements similar to the movements your body naturally experiences during REM sleep.  During this time, your body will go where it needs to go to process any thoughts, images or feelings it needs to relate to your experience. With repeated sets of eye movements, the memory processes and tends to change in such a way that it loses its painful intensity and simply becomes a neutral memory of an event in the past. Other associated memories may also heal at the same time. The processing of related memories can lead to a dramatic and rapid improvement in many aspects of your life.

EMDR therapy has been found to be more effective and comprehensive in addressing symptoms including, but not limited to, PTSD, complex trauma, depression, anxiety, grief, addiction, maladaptive behaviors and relationship issues. 

Another benefit of EMDR is that it does not require the client to discuss detailed information about their experience in detail. This makes it less invasive and intimidating. The resolution of the experience is more comprehensive with EMDR since it addresses cognitions, emotions and aspects of memories that are held somatically. EMDR allows you to challenge maladaptive narratives associated with the experience and eliminate the emotional charge from painful memories. It also lessons the impact of present-day triggers – and future concerns about those triggers. Throughout therapy, you’ll develop new adaptive capacities, increase confidence and improve positive self-beliefs.

EMDR therapy has been the subject of more controlled research than all other treatments for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) combined. There are more than 30 randomized studies and hundreds of peer reviews that document the treatment gains with EMDR therapy. 

These studies have investigated the effects of EMDR and have consistently found that EMDR effectively decreases/eliminates the symptoms of PTSD. 

Research continues to be studied of the effectiveness of EMDR with other mental health diagnoses such as depression, anxiety, panic disorders and psychosis.