What is emdr therapy?
You don’t have to have a single defining trauma to benefit from EMDR. If there are memories — big or small — that still feel charged, raw, or stuck, this therapy was designed with exactly that in mind.
EMDR, which stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, is one of the most well-researched therapies available today. Developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro in the late 1980s, it was originally created to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) — and it does that exceptionally well. But over the past three decades, its applications have expanded significantly. EMDR is now used to treat anxiety, depression, grief, phobias, chronic pain, relationship patterns, and much more (Scelles & Bulnes, 2021; Shapiro, 2018).
This post will walk you through what EMDR actually is, how it works in the brain, what sessions look like, and whether it might be a good fit for you.
The Science Behind EMDR
To understand EMDR, it helps to understand how the brain stores distressing memories. Under normal circumstances, the brain processes experiences and integrates them into our broader understanding of the world. But when an experience is overwhelming — whether it’s a single traumatic event or a pattern of painful experiences over time — that processing can get interrupted. The memory becomes “frozen” in the nervous system, stored with all the original emotions, sensations, and beliefs attached to it (Solomon & Shapiro, 2008).
This is the foundation of EMDR’s theoretical framework, known as Adaptive Information Processing (AIP). The AIP model proposes that the brain has a natural drive toward healing, but that traumatic or highly distressing memories can block that process. Those unprocessed memories then show up in daily life as anxiety, hypervigilance, intrusive thoughts, negative self-beliefs, emotional reactivity, and physical symptoms — even when the original event is long past (Shapiro, 2018).
“EMDR therapy seeks to help reprocess maladaptive memories to reduce associated distress and promote more realistic and balanced interpretation of situations and experiences.”
What makes EMDR unique is its use of bilateral stimulation — typically guided eye movements, but also taps or tones — while a client briefly attends to a distressing memory. Research suggests this dual attention task may help reduce the emotional intensity of the memory by taxing working memory, suppressing activity in the amygdala (the brain’s threat-detection center), and allowing the memory to be integrated more adaptively into the nervous system (de Jongh et al., 2024).
The Eight Phases of EMDR
EMDR isn’t just bilateral stimulation — it’s a structured, eight-phase protocol that unfolds over the course of treatment. This structure is one of the reasons EMDR has such a strong evidence base (Shapiro, 2018).
•Phase 1 — History & Treatment Planning: Your therapist learns about your history, identifies target memories, and creates a roadmap for treatment.
•Phase 2 — Preparation: You learn grounding and resourcing techniques so you feel safe and stable before processing begins.
•Phase 3 — Assessment: You and your therapist identify the specific memory to target, along with the negative belief connected to it and what you’d rather believe instead.
•Phase 4 — Desensitization: The core processing phase — you hold the memory in mind while following bilateral stimulation, allowing the emotional charge to reduce naturally.
•Phase 5 — Installation: The positive belief you identified is strengthened and linked to the memory.
•Phase 6 — Body Scan: You check for any remaining physical tension or distress held in the body related to the memory.
•Phase 7 — Closure: Every session ends with grounding, whether or not processing is complete, so you leave feeling settled.
•Phase 8 — Reevaluation: At the start of each session, your therapist checks in on what was processed previously and what to focus on next.
What Can EMDR Help With?
One of the most common misconceptions about EMDR is that it’s only for people who have experienced a single, identifiable traumatic event. In reality, EMDR is applicable to a wide range of experiences and presentations. The common thread is that distressing memories — including the subtle, chronic ones — are at the root of many mental health struggles (Scelles & Bulnes, 2021).
Research supports EMDR’s effectiveness for:
• PTSD and complex trauma
• Anxiety and panic
• Depression
• Grief and loss
• Phobias
• Attachment wounds
• Low self-esteem
• Relationship patterns
• Chronic pain
• Eating disorders
• Substance use
• Performance anxiety
Even experiences that might not look like “trauma” on the surface — a humiliating childhood memory, a painful breakup, years of feeling unseen — can be held in the nervous system in ways that shape how we think, feel, and relate to others today. EMDR works by targeting those roots, not just managing the symptoms (Solomon & Shapiro, 2008).
What the Research Says
EMDR has one of the strongest evidence bases of any psychotherapy approach. It is endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO), the American Psychological Association (APA), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the Department of Defense (DoD) as an effective treatment for PTSD (de Jongh et al., 2024).
A comprehensive 2024 meta-analysis found that EMDR was equally effective as Prolonged Exposure (PE) and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) — two of the other gold-standard trauma treatments — across randomized controlled trials (Wright et al., 2024). Many clients who complete a course of EMDR no longer meet criteria for PTSD at the end of treatment.
Research into EMDR’s broader applications is also growing rapidly. Studies have demonstrated its promise for eating disorders, chronic pain, depression, and anxiety, among other presentations (Hatoum et al., 2024; de Jongh et al., 2024).
What Does an EMDR Session Actually Feel Like?
People are often surprised by how different EMDR feels from traditional talk therapy. Rather than spending the session analyzing the past or solving problems verbally, EMDR sessions involve more internal focus — noticing what comes up in your body, thoughts, and emotions as processing unfolds. Your therapist guides the process but largely follows where your nervous system leads.
Sessions can bring up emotion, but they’re carefully paced. You’ll never be pushed into processing before you’re ready, and your therapist will ensure you have grounding tools in place before any processing begins. EMDR is also highly adaptable — it works just as effectively via telehealth as it does in person, which makes it accessible regardless of where you live.
Some people notice significant shifts after just a few sessions. Others work through deeper, more layered histories over a longer period. The pace is always guided by what your nervous system is ready for.
Is EMDR Right for You?
EMDR may be a good fit if you feel stuck in patterns that you understand intellectually but can’t seem to shift. If certain situations, people, or memories trigger responses that feel bigger than the moment warrants, there’s often an older memory driving that response. EMDR is designed to go there — gently and effectively.
It’s also worth noting that EMDR is not one-size-fits-all. A thorough initial assessment helps identify whether EMDR is the right approach for you, and a good therapist will integrate it thoughtfully alongside other modalities when appropriate.
If you’re curious whether EMDR might be a fit for what you’re navigating, reaching out for a consultation is a great first step. You don’t have to have the “right” kind of history to benefit — you just have to be open to the possibility that healing is possible.
References
1. de Jongh, A., Amann, B. L., Hofmann, A., Farrell, D., & Lee, C. W. (2024). State of the science: Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. Journal of Traumatic Stress. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.23012
2. Hatoum, A. S., et al. (2024). Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy for the treatment of eating disorders: A systematic review of the literature. Mental Health Science. https://doi.org/10.1002/mhs2.92
3. Scelles, C., & Bulnes, L. C. (2021). EMDR as treatment option for conditions other than PTSD: A systematic review. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 644369. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.644369
4. Shapiro, F. (2018). Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy: Basic principles, protocols, and procedures (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.
5. Solomon, R. M., & Shapiro, F. (2008). EMDR and the adaptive information processing model: Potential mechanisms of change. Journal of EMDR Practice and Research, 2(4), 315–325. https://doi.org/10.1891/1933-3196.2.4.315
6. Wright, et al. (2024). EMDR v. other psychological therapies for PTSD: A systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis. Psychological Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1017/S003329172400049X