What is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and how could it help you?
Call the press! I have an exciting announcement to share!!!
I am so happy to announce that I am integrating Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy into my psychotherapy practice. This decision reflects both the scientific evidence supporting EMDR's effectiveness and my commitment to offering clients an integrative healing experience. If you have been wondering if you might want to try EMDR, this blog post is for you!
Why did I become interested in EMDR?
Talk therapy can be profoundly transformative, but sometimes insight alone isn't enough. For example, you can understand your patterns intellectually yet still feel stuck. That's where EMDR can come in. It can offer a powerful complement to talk therapy by opening new pathways toward healing that engage not only our minds, but the body, the nervous system, and the deeper layers of memory where painful experiences are stored.
In this post, I will share what EMDR is, where it came from, what the research says about its effectiveness, and why I believe it pairs so naturally with the types of psychotherapy I already do. So, if you are curious about EMDR, grab your favourite beverage and read on! It`s a long post so get cozy :)
A walk in the park that established the foundations of EMDR
In 1987, psychologist Dr. Francine Shapiro noticed something odd during a stroll: moving her eyes back and forth seemed to reduce the intensity of distressing thoughts. Rather than dismissing this as coincidence, she pursued it systematically. The result was Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, EMDR, now one of the most studied trauma therapies in the world (EMDRIA, 2024; Shapiro, 1989).
Ok, but what exactly is EMDR and how does it work?
If I were bold enough to try to summarize Shapiro`s nearly 600 page book into one sentence I would say that: EMDR therapy is a psychotherapy approach that uses dual attention and emphasizes the role of the brain's natural information processing system in the resolution of psychological distress (Shapiro, 2001, 2018).
I am going to get technical for few minutes, so please bare with me… At its core, EMDR centres the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model: the idea that the brain has a natural capacity to heal from painful experiences, much like the body heals a physical wound. When trauma overwhelms that system, memories get "stuck" in fragmented form which preserve the original emotions, sensations, and beliefs from the moment of the event (Shapiro, 2018; EMDRIA, 2024).
Those stuck memories can then be triggered by everyday situations which creates reactions that feel far bigger than the moment warrants (not that this has ever happened to me, haha). EMDR uses bilateral stimulation (typically guided eye movements, tapping, or auditory tones) to reactivate those memory networks in a safe, structured way. The idea is that the brain gets a new chance to process and integrate the difficult events (Shapiro, 2018; EMDRIA, 2024).
One of the most important takeaway is that during this process the emotional charge of the memory decreases, the brain begins to associate the experience with more adaptive beliefs and emotions, and clients frequently report that the memory feels more resolved. For example, clients might still recognize that the difficult experiences happened (we are therapists, not magicians), but the events might no longer create the same type of distress… In other words, clients can feel lighter about them. (Shapiro, 2018; Shapiro & Laliotis, 2017).
If I am being honest, I was a bit of a skeptic until I experienced this myself and now I am completely mesmerized by how much change this process can bring!
There is more… in fact there are Eight Phases in EMDR Therapy
Despite what might be depicted on social media, EMDR is far more than eye movements and cool gadgets! In fact it is a comprehensive, structured approach that unfolds across eight distinct phases (Shapiro, 2001, 2018). This is what these steps could look like if we worked together:
1- History-Taking & Treatment Planning
We get to know each other and collaboratively explore your past experiences, present triggers, and skills needed for the future.
2- Preparation
I would then ensure that you understand what EMDR is and actually want to move forward with using this modality (there will never be any pressure, I can`t stress this enough). If you want to go ahead with EMDR, I would help to connect you with self-regulation resources. This could include looking at the resources you already use to feel grounded and exploring new techniques like a "safe place" visualization, breath work and containment strategies.
3- Assessment
The target memory that we will be working on is identified, and we explore if any image represents it. We also look at associated negative belief, desired positive belief, emotions, and body sensations as well as their intensity.
4- Desensitization
Using dual attention such as bilateral stimulation (aka eye mouvement), I will lead you to focus on the target memory while your brain's natural processing system is activated. This is when the EMDR magic happens and distress often decreases across sets of bilateral stimulation!
5- Installation
Your desired positive belief is strengthened and linked with the target memory to replace the negative belief with an adaptive one.
6- Body Scan
You are guided to notice any residual tension or discomfort in the body, and bilateral stimulation is used to address remaining somatic distress.
7- Closure
I ensure that you feel stable and grounded before the session ends and use calming techniques if processing is incomplete. I also let you know that processing could continue after the session and we explore what you can do if this is the case.
8- Reevaluation
During the following sessions, we review your progress, check previously processed targets, and identifies any new material that has emerged.
If you have any questions about these steps, I invite you to reach out for a free consultation, or to bring them up during your next session if you are a current client.
Ok, but does all this really work? What does the research on EMDR say?
This is another warning that I am going to geek out in this section, so if you don`t enjoy research, this is your official permission to go ahead and skip this part :)
For those of you wondering whether EMDR is actually backed by research, though, the answer is yes, and quite strongly.
The evidence base for EMDR has grown substantially since that 1987 walk in the park. It is now a first-line recommended treatment for PTSD across most major international clinical guidelines, and research has expanded well beyond PTSD into complex PTSD, depression, anxiety, and general distressing life experiences (de Jongh et al., 2024).
Evidence at a glance:
30+ Randomized controlled trials supporting EMDR`s efficacy for post traumatic stress disorder
Endorsed by the World Health Organization, American Psychological Association, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
A 2024 meta-analysis published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine found that EMDR significantly reduced symptoms of depression, whether or not that depression was linked to PTSD.
This aligns with Francine Shapiro’s original insight: that many forms of emotional distress aren’t random, that they are often rooted in life experiences that haven’t been fully processed or integrated. In this sense, everyday experiences, like relationship struggles, work stress, stress or loss can leave a similar imprint on the nervous system. Sometimes just as much, if not more, than what we traditionally label as trauma.
What might be the most important thing to remember here is that studies have found that EMDR can be effective even when someone doesn’t meet the formal criteria for PTSD. In some cases, meaningful shifts happened in as few as three sessions, with remission rates as high as 84% (Shapiro, 2014).
Why Talk Therapy Sometimes Isn't Enough
As I mentioned before, for many clients, talk therapy is genuinely transformative! I have been fortunate to witness in my practice how psychodynamic exploration and cognitive reframing are powerful tools that can foster insight, self-understanding, meaning making and relational growth. This is such an honour b.t.w, sometimes I need to pinch myself to realize that I do this for work!
However, I have also noticed that there can be some limitations to approaches that rely primarily on what clinicians call "top-down" processing.This lingo means that traditional therapy works "top-down" through language, cognition, and meaning making, which is important and transformative, no one is disputing that. However, as Dr. Bessel van der Kolk documented in The Body Keeps the Score, trauma is often stored below the level of language: in the limbic system, the brainstem and the body itself. That is why some authors believe that talking about it can only reach so far (van der Kolk, 2014).
This is where "bottom-up" processing becomes essential. Bottom-up approaches begin with the body, the nervous system, and sensory experience rather than with thought and language. EMDR is recognized as a powerful bottom-up processing approach because bilateral stimulation directly activates the brain's natural processing system which allows clients to access and reprocess memories at the neurophysiological level. This means that things can get worked on without having to talk extensively about the traumatic experience (Shapiro, 2018; Schwartz, 2017).
All of this to say that you are not failing at therapy if you have gained insight but still feel emotionally stuck. You may simply need a different pathway in!
Could EMDR Help You?
EMDR may be worth exploring if you:
Have been in therapy and gained insight, but still recreate old patterns
Feel anxious in situations you rationally "know" are safe
Carry physical tension or pain that seems connected to the past
Experience emotional flooding or shutdown your rational mind can't override
Find talking about difficult experiences overwhelming and want a gentler entry point
It is helpful to remember that EMDR can help clients who feel stuck in talk therapy by offering a route that bypasses the intellectual defenses and rationalizations that can sometimes keep painful material at arm's length. Rather than requiring you to narrate your story, EMDR allows the brain and body to do their own healing work, often with surprising efficiency and depth.
An Integrative Approach to EMDR
One of the things I find most exciting about EMDR is how naturally it integrates with the therapeutic modalities that I already use! EMDR is not a replacement for the depth of psychodynamic exploration, the curious compassion of parts work, the embodied wisdom of somatic approaches, or the grounding power of mindfulness. It is a complement. One that can amplify and deepen the work that we are already doing together.
What All of This Could Mean for You
If you are a current client, this integration does not necessarily mean a dramatic shift in the way we work together. It means that we now have an additional, powerful tool in our therapeutic toolkit that you could choose to explore. If you would like to integrate EMDR in our work, we will do so collaboratively, based on your needs, readiness, and goals. (And if you want to keep the work focused on talk therapy, that is ok too!)
If you are completely new to therapy, lots of options are open too! If you are someone who has been curious about therapy but has hesitated because talking about difficult experiences feels overwhelming, EMDR may offer a gentle entry point. This approach does not require extensive sharing of all of your difficult experiences, and many clients are surprised by how quickly it can help them to feel better.
And if you have been in therapy before and found it helpful but feel that something is still unresolved, a persistent anxiety, a bodily tension, strong emotions that insight alone has not been able to shift, maybe you want to EMDR a try!
Curious About EMDR?
I offer a free 20-minute consultation to explore whether EMDR, or any approach in my practice , might be a good fit for you.
References
Chen, Y. R., et al. (2014). Efficacy of eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing for patients with posttraumatic-stress disorder: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. PLOS ONE, 9(8), e103676.
Cloitre, M. (2020). ICD-11 complex post-traumatic stress disorder: Simplifying diagnosis in trauma populations. British Journal of Psychiatry, 216(3), 129–131.
de Jongh, A., et al. (2024). State of the science: Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 37, 205–216.
de Jongh, A., et al. (2024). Trauma-focused treatment of a client with complex PTSD and comorbid pathology using EMDR therapy. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 80(1), 166–185.
Dworkin, M. (2005). EMDR and the relational imperative. New York: Brunner-Routledge.
EMDR International Association (EMDRIA). (2024). EMDR therapy beginnings: Francine Shapiro. https://www.emdria.org
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