Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
Healing trauma with targeted memory processing
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a structured, evidence-based therapy that helps the brain naturally heal from trauma and distressing events. When an experience is overwhelming, the memory can get "stuck" in the brain, causing ongoing distress long after the event has passed.
Unlike traditional talk therapy, EMDR does not require you to repeatedly retell your story or describe every painful detail to be effective. Instead, the process uses short sets of bilateral stimulation—such as side-to-side eye movements, sounds, or taps—while you briefly focus on the memory and notice the thoughts or physical sensations that surface.
We will thoroughly assess, identify together what needs attention, and ensure that you have resources and coping strategies before we start. The ultimate goal is to process the unhelpful elements of the memory so that it finally feels over, resolved, and firmly in the past.
How the Healing Happens
To understand how EMDR works, we use a framework called the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model. This model views your brain as having a natural, built-in healing system—much like how your physical body knows how to heal a cut. Your brain has a natural ability to heal from distress, much like your body heals from a cut.
When an overwhelming event overloads this system:
It causes the memory to get "stuck" in its raw, emotional form.
When a memory is frozen this way, everyday reminders can trigger your nervous system, making you feel like the danger is happening all over again.
EMDR restarts your brain's natural healing process to untangle and file that memory away safely.
By changing how the experience is stored, it helps your body release old emotional tension and unhelpful beliefs, replacing them with present-day truths like "I am safe now" or "It wasn't my fault." Ultimately, the memory shifts from feeling like it is happening now to something that safely happened then.
Bilateral Stimulation
A unique element of EMDR is bilateral stimulation—gentle, rhythmic left-to-right patterns using eye movements, tapping, or alternating sounds. While you briefly bring a distressing memory to mind, researchers believe this rhythmic movement helps your brain "unstick" the experience and process it more effectively.
This is not hypnosis, and it won't erase your memories. Instead, it is a structured tool that helps the nervous system do what it was designed to do: make sense of painful experiences, reduce their emotional charge, and create room for more adaptive responses and learning.
The 8 Phases of EMDR Therapy
1. History Taking & Treatment Planning
You and your therapist work together to understand your history, current concerns, goals, and patterns of distress. Potential targets for EMDR processing are identified, and a treatment plan is developed.
2. Preparation
Before trauma processing begins, you build coping tools and resources to help you feel grounded, safe, and emotionally prepared. Your therapist also explains how EMDR works and what to expect.
3. Assessment
A specific memory, experience, or concern is identified for processing. Together, you explore the images, emotions, body sensations, and beliefs connected to that experience.
4. Desensitization
Using bilateral stimulation, you begin processing the targeted experience. The goal is to reduce the emotional intensity and allow the brain to keep what needs to be kept and discard what is no longer useful.
5. Installation
As distress decreases, therapy focuses on strengthening a more helpful, balanced, or empowering belief connected to the experience.
6. Body Scan
You check in with your body to notice any remaining physical tension, discomfort, or distress, allowing any lingering material stored to be addressed.
7. Closure
Each session ends with strategies to help you return to a grounded, regulated state, whether or not processing is fully complete that day.
8. Reevaluation
At the beginning of each session, you and your therapist review progress since your last session, assess if the targeted material continues to feel resolved, and determine next steps in treatment.
What does a typical session look like?
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You and your therapist briefly check in and confirm you're ready to continue processing work. We note any changes since the previous session, get any additional information about your history, and decide on a memory or experience to target for reprocessing. This may be a continuation of the work from the previous session or something completely new that hasn’t been targeted with EMDR yet.
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Before beginning reprocessing, you reconnect with coping tools, grounding skills, or internal resources to help you feel present, supported, and ready for the work.
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You briefly bring to mind the identified target for the session, including any associated thoughts, feelings, body sensations, or images.
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Using bilateral stimulation in brief sets (half a minute or less), you will allow your mind to notice what arises naturally while you are guided the process. As your brain works through the material, you may observe shifts in your thoughts, emotions, memories, or body sensations.
After each set, you will simply report what you noticed—there is no "right" answer. This process continues until the emotional intensity fades and the memory feels neutral.
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As distress decreases, we work toward strengthening more adaptive beliefs, emotional responses, and ways of understanding the experience — helping you retain what is useful while letting go of what is no longer you.
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Before the session concludes, we check in, reinforce stabilization skills, and help you return to the present feeling supported and prepared for the week ahead. If the processing of a memory is not complete, we agree to pick it up the following week.
Who benefits most?
EMDR may be especially helpful for:
Trauma or PTSD, including childhood trauma, complex trauma, attachment trauma, abuse, assault, medical trauma, or other overwhelming experiences
Intrusive memories, flashbacks, nightmares, or strong emotional and physical trauma triggers.
Difficulty moving forward after painful experiences or major life transitions, including grief, betrayal, loss, or relationship wounds.
Anxiety, panic attacks, phobias, or nervous system responses connected to past experiences.
The feeling of “I know logically I’m safe, but my body still reacts like I’m not.”
Negative core beliefs, shame, perfectionism, people-pleasing, or chronic self-criticism rooted in earlier experiences
Attachment wounds, traumatic invalidation, relationship trauma, fear of abandonment, or recurring relational difficulties
Dissociation, emotional numbness, chronic tension, hypervigilance, or other trauma-related mind-body symptoms
Those who have experienced traumatic invalidation — feeling dismissed, disbelieved, blamed, or disconnected from their own sense of reality after difficult experiences
Insight from traditional talk therapy isn’t helping you to feel resolved, or you’re still having trouble fully putting your emotional and physical experience into words
Trauma & PTSD: Including childhood trauma, abuse, medical trauma, flashbacks, nightmares, and intense triggers.
Feeling Stuck: Struggling to move past grief, betrayal, loss, or major life transitions.
Anxiety & Panic: Overwhelming nervous system responses or phobias tied to past events.
The "Logically Safe" Disconnect: Knowing you are safe in your mind, but your body and nervous system still react with fear or hypervigilance.
Negative Core Beliefs: Shifting deep-seated shame, perfectionism, or self-criticism rooted in early experiences.
Relationship & Attachment Wounds: Navigating fear of abandonment, recurring relationship patterns, or past invalidation.
Simply Talking Didn’t Help: Finding that intellectual insight hasn't translated into feeling physically or emotionally resolved.
You do not need to have a formal trauma diagnosis to benefit from EMDR. Many people seek EMDR because they notice that certain experiences — big or small — continue to influence how they feel, relate, cope, or move through the world.
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EMDR is best known for trauma treatment, but it can also help with distressing memories, anxiety, grief, self-worth concerns, and other experiences that still feel emotionally “stuck.” We can talk about whether it is a good fit for your specific goals.
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That is okay. Readiness matters, and EMDR does not have to begin right away. We can spend time building safety, stability, and coping resources first so the work feels more grounded and supportive.
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No. We will talk enough to identify what needs attention, but EMDR is not about repeatedly reliving the story in detail.
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We will go at a pace that feels manageable. EMDR is designed to be collaborative and adjustable, and there are strategies we can use if something starts to feel too intense. You will not be pushed beyond what feels safe or workable.
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Not necessarily. EMDR is different from traditional talk therapy. There are periods where you may speak with me about what you are noticing, where you simply observe your thoughts, emotions, body sensations, images, or memories, while the therapist guides the process. The bilateral stimulation helps support your brain’s natural process so that difficult experiences can become less emotionally charged, less reactive, and feel more resolved or “over and done with.”
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That is a valid concern, and it is something we can adjust for. If side-to-side eye movements do not feel comfortable, we can use other forms of bilateral stimulation. The goal is to find an approach that supports processing while also respecting your comfort and physical sensitivity.
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That depends on the nature of the concerns we are treating, how much preparation is needed, and how your system responds to the work. The length of the session can vary from person to person, as well as the length of the treatment in full. Some people notice changes relatively quickly, while others benefit from a longer course of treatment. We will discuss your goals and revisit progress along the way.
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Yes, when clinically appropriate, EMDR can be adapted for adolescents. The approach is tailored to the client’s developmental needs, comfort level, and treatment goals.
Frequently Asked Questions about EMDR
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EMDR is best known for trauma treatment, but it can also help with distressing memories, anxiety, grief, self-worth concerns, and other experiences that still feel emotionally “stuck.” We can talk about whether it is a good fit for your specific goals.
-
That is okay. Readiness matters, and EMDR does not have to begin right away. We can spend time building safety, stability, and coping resources first so the work feels more grounded and supportive.
-
No. We will talk enough to identify what needs attention, but EMDR is not about repeatedly reliving the story in detail.
-
We will go at a pace that feels manageable. EMDR is designed to be collaborative and adjustable, and there are strategies we can use if something starts to feel too intense. You will not be pushed beyond what feels safe or workable.
-
Not necessarily. EMDR is different from traditional talk therapy. There are periods where you may speak with me about what you are noticing, where you simply observe your thoughts, emotions, body sensations, images, or memories, while the therapist guides the process. The bilateral stimulation helps support your brain’s natural process so that difficult experiences can become less emotionally charged, less reactive, and feel more resolved or “over and done with.”
-
That is a valid concern, and it is something we can adjust for. If side-to-side eye movements do not feel comfortable, we can use other forms of bilateral stimulation. The goal is to find an approach that supports processing while also respecting your comfort and physical sensitivity.
-
That depends on the nature of the concerns we are treating, how much preparation is needed, and how your system responds to the work. The length of the session can vary from person to person, as well as the length of the treatment in full. Some people notice changes relatively quickly, while others benefit from a longer course of treatment. We will discuss your goals and revisit progress along the way.
-
Yes, when clinically appropriate, EMDR can be adapted for adolescents. The approach is tailored to the client’s developmental needs, comfort level, and treatment goals.
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Cusack, K., Jonas, D. E., Forneris, C. A., Wines, C., Sonis, J., Middleton, J. C., Feltner, C., Brownley, K. A., Olmsted, K. R., Greenblatt, A., Weil, A., & Gaynes, B. N. (2016). Psychological treatments for adults with posttraumatic stress disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Annals of Internal Medicine, 165(12), 886–897. https://doi.org/10.7326/M15-2915
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Shapiro, F. (2001). Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing: Basic principles, protocols, and procedures (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.
Shapiro, F. (2018). Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy: Basic principles, protocols, and procedures (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.
van der Kolk, B. A., Spinazzola, J., Blaustein, M. E., Kroon, J. W., & Bessel, W. (2007). A randomized clinical trial of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), fluoxetine, and pill placebo in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder: Treatment effects and long-term maintenance. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 68(1), 37–46. https://doi.org/10.4088/JCP.v68n0105
Watts, B. V., Schnurr, P. P., Mayo, L., Young-Xu, Y., Weeks, W. B., & Friedman, M. J. (2013). Meta-analysis of the efficacy of treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 74(6), e541–e550. https://doi.org/10.4088/JCP.12r08225
World Health Organization. (2013). Guidelines for the management of conditions specifically related to stress. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241505406
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