EMDR therapy appears to directly affect the brain, “unfreezing” memories that are stuck in your memory as traumatic events, and allowing your brain’s natural healing process to begin. It’s an effective treatment for PTSD, though many therapists also use it for other mental health issues such as anxiety disorders, depression and dissociative disorders.
During a session of EMDR, you’ll work with your therapist to select a painful or upsetting memory that brings on PTSD symptoms. You’ll recall the memory while engaging in eye movements or other bilateral stimulation—similar to what happens during REM sleep—that are meant to help you process the memory on an emotional level, not just as facts or images. After you engage in this back-and-forth movement or other stimulation for a few minutes, your healthcare provider will ask you what thoughts or feelings emerge. Your therapist will then guide you through the next phase of the process, which often involves discussing what’s happened and exploring alternative ways to think about the event and its associated feelings.
As the process continues, your therapist will direct you to focus on the aversive memory while tracking their hand as it moves from left to right across your field of vision. The lateral movements are a key part of EMDR; researchers believe that the repetition, rhythm and intensity of this bilateral stimulation helps your mind to process the memory in such a way that it becomes less threatening and disturbing.
When you’re done focusing on the memory, your healthcare provider will then have you focus on a positive belief that you choose to reinforce as you move through the process. The purpose is to give you something to hold onto, so that if the negative emotions come back up as you try to remember the upsetting memory, you’ll have another tool to fight them off.
Your therapist will then have you scan your body to see how the negative emotions affect your physical sensations and feelings. If the upsetting memories are still causing distressing symptoms, your therapist will guide you through more cycles of EMDR until your symptoms subside completely.
While dozens of studies have shown that EMDR works, scientists don’t know exactly how it works. One theory is that the back-and-forth movements and other bilateral stimulation are similar to what you experience during dreaming or REM sleep, which allows your mind to view experiences in new and less distressing ways.
In a recent study, EMDR was found to be just as effective as classic exposure therapies in treating PTSD and C-PTSD, though more research is needed on the mechanisms involved. Researchers are also interested in whether the treatment can be applied to other conditions, including anxiety disorders, panic and phobias, eating disorders and certain types of dissociative disorders.
If you’re looking for a therapist who uses EMDR, take our assessment at BetterHelp to get matched with licensed, accredited therapists. It’s free, confidential and doesn’t require any commitments. You could be paired with a therapist in as little as 48 hours!