What is EMDR?

Blog post written by Jessica Martino

So maybe you’ve heard about Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and you would like to try it! Your first question might be: what is this weird combination of words and what does it mean?

Let’s go back into the past for a second. On a beautiful day in 1987, Dr. Francine Shapiro went on a walk in the park to alleviate stress, and noticed that she felt noticeably better after the walk. She pinpointed what made this walk different from the others – she had been scanning the sidewalk back and forth with her eyes while thinking about what was stressing her out. She began to research how this happened and how she could use it to help others. She studied the effects of eye movements with people who had traumatic experiences and distressing memories – and just like that EMDR therapy was born!

EMDR is now considered to be the “gold standard” for therapeutic trauma treatment, but we now know EMDR to be effective with many other things such as anxiety. This form of treatment has shown successful under rigorous studies spanning back to its discovery in the late 1980’s. One of the ideas behind this treatment is that the brain strives to heal traumatic memories just like the rest of the body heals physically, we just need an active process in order to allow our brains the ability to reprocess and heal. Exploring memories in a safe and calming environment can help your brain “put the puzzle pieces back together”, so to speak. We don’t know exactly how it works on a chemical level in the brain, but many scholars theorize the process is similar to our brains ability to process the day through REM sleep (Random Eye Movement). 

What does it look like in a session? EMDR involves bi-lateral stimulation, meaning a stimulus (such as a sound, sensation or sight) that travels back and forth across the body. There may be a few sessions of information gathering and planning before you and your therapist begin exploring specific memories. When the time is right, your therapist may have you follow their fingers with your eyes back and forth, or hold tappers in each hand that tap back and forth, among other methods. Your therapist will use an 8 phase process to move through the steps of EMDR therapy. Some people report feeling different shortly after a few sessions of EMDR therapy!

At Knoxville Counseling Services we have therapists who are trained in EMDR and can walk you through the process of healing traumatic memories. Please give this unique and well researched form of therapy some consideration on your healing journey!