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Maybe your ther­a­pist men­tioned it. Maybe a friend told you it changed their life. Maybe you read some­thing online and thought it sound­ed either too good to be true or too strange to take seri­ous­ly.

Eye move­ments? Tap­ping? Pro­cess­ing painful mem­o­ries with­out hav­ing to tell the whole sto­ry out loud?

It sounds unlike any­thing else in ther­a­py — and in many ways, it is.

EMDR — Eye Move­ment Desen­si­ti­za­tion and Repro­cess­ing — is a well researched, high­ly rec­om­mend­ed trau­ma ther­a­py glob­al­ly. It is endorsed by the World Health Orga­ni­za­tion, the Amer­i­can Psy­cho­log­i­cal Asso­ci­a­tion, and the U.S. Depart­ment of Vet­er­ans Affairs as a front­line treat­ment for PTSD. It has helped mil­lions of peo­ple move past expe­ri­ences that years of talk ther­a­py alone could not touch.

And yet, for some­thing so well-estab­lished, it is still wide­ly mis­un­der­stood. Many peo­ple walk into their first EMDR ses­sion not real­ly know­ing what is about to hap­pen, why it works, or what to expect after­ward.

This page is designed to change that.

 

Curi­ous if EMDR is right for you? Let’s Talk 

 

What Is EMDR Therapy?

EMDR was devel­oped in 1987 by psy­chol­o­gist Dr. Francine Shapiro, who noticed that cer­tain eye move­ments seemed to reduce the dis­tress attached to dif­fi­cult thoughts. Over the fol­low­ing decades, she devel­oped a struc­tured, eight-step approach that has since been test­ed in more than 30 clin­i­cal tri­als and is prac­ticed by over 110,000 trained ther­a­pists world­wide.

The core idea behind EMDR is straight­for­ward: your brain has a nat­ur­al abil­i­ty to process and make sense of dif­fi­cult expe­ri­ences. When some­thing trau­mat­ic hap­pens, that process can get stuck. The mem­o­ry ends up stored in its raw, unfin­ished form — car­ry­ing the orig­i­nal images, emo­tions, phys­i­cal feel­ings, and beliefs — exact­ly as they were in the moment it hap­pened.

Instead of being filed away as some­thing that is over, it stays active in your ner­vous sys­tem, ready to be set off by any­thing that reminds you of the orig­i­nal expe­ri­ence.

This is why a com­bat vet­er­an might hit the floor when a car back­fires. Why some­one who was assault­ed might pan­ic at a cer­tain smell. Why you might feel the same shame you felt as a child when your boss crit­i­cizes your work today.

The mem­o­ry has not been ful­ly processed. Your brain is still treat­ing it as if it is hap­pen­ing right now.

EMDR uses a tech­nique called bilat­er­al stim­u­la­tion — most com­mon­ly guid­ed eye move­ments, but some­times gen­tle tap­ping or audio tones — to acti­vate your brain’s nat­ur­al pro­cess­ing sys­tem while you hold a dif­fi­cult mem­o­ry in mind. This gives the brain the chance to do what it was designed to do but could not at the time: make sense of the mem­o­ry, update the beliefs attached to it, and file it away as some­thing that hap­pened in the past rather than some­thing that is still hap­pen­ing.

EMDR does not erase mem­o­ries. It changes your rela­tion­ship to them. The mem­o­ry stays, but the emo­tion­al weight — the pan­ic, the shame, the help­less­ness — fades. What once felt like a live wire becomes some­thing you can hold with­out being burned.

 

 

 

What the Research Says About EMDR

 

The evi­dence behind EMDR is not anec­do­tal — it is exten­sive. Here is a plain-Eng­lish sum­ma­ry of what the research shows:

77–90% of sin­gle-trau­ma PTSD patientsno longer meet the diag­nos­tic cri­te­ria for PTSD after just 3–6 EMDR ses­sions. (Shapiro, 2018)

84.9% effec­tive­ness rate in large-scale stud­ies for sin­gle-inci­dent trau­ma, with results achieved in approx­i­mate­ly three 90-minute ses­sions. (Wil­son et al., 1997)

110,000+ trained ther­a­pists in more than 130 coun­tries prac­tice EMDR, mak­ing it one of the most wide­ly used trau­ma ther­a­pies in the world. (EMDR Inter­na­tion­al Asso­ci­a­tion)

Low­er dropout rates than oth­er trau­ma ther­a­pies — esti­mat­ed 0–20% com­pared to 28–38% for Pro­longed Expo­sure ther­a­py. (Iron­son et al., 2002)

Last­ing results — treat­ment gains hold up at 15-month fol­low-up and beyond. (Wil­son et al., 1997)

Endorsed by 7 major orga­ni­za­tions as a front­line treat­ment for PTSD — includ­ing the WHO, the Amer­i­can Psy­cho­log­i­cal Asso­ci­a­tion, and the U.S. Depart­ments of Vet­er­ans Affairs and Defense.

 

 

 

How EMDR Compares to Other Therapies

 

Under­stand­ing how EMDR fits with­in the broad­er world of ther­a­py can help you make a more informed deci­sion about your care.

EMDR vs. Prolonged Exposure (PE)

Both are con­sid­ered gold-stan­dard treat­ments for PTSD. Pro­longed Expo­sure requires you to repeat­ed­ly recount the trau­mat­ic mem­o­ry in detail — which is effec­tive, but can feel over­whelm­ing and has high­er dropout rates (28–38%) com­pared to EMDR (0–20%). EMDR pro­duces com­pa­ra­ble results with­out requir­ing that lev­el of detailed nar­ra­tion, and often in few­er ses­sions.

EMDR vs. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT works by iden­ti­fy­ing and chal­leng­ing unhelp­ful thought pat­terns through con­scious, ratio­nal think­ing. It is effec­tive for many con­di­tions, but it approach­es trau­ma main­ly through the think­ing lay­er. EMDR works more direct­ly with the mem­o­ry itself — reach­ing the emo­tion­al and phys­i­cal dimen­sions that think­ing alone often can­not resolve. For peo­ple who feel like they “know” what hap­pened but still can’t stop react­ing to it, EMDR tends to offer a more direct path to relief.

EMDR vs. Traditional Talk Therapy

Tra­di­tion­al talk ther­a­py is valu­able for build­ing self-aware­ness, work­ing through mean­ing, and feel­ing heard. But for trau­ma specif­i­cal­ly, research shows it is sig­nif­i­cant­ly less effec­tive on its own than struc­tured trau­ma-pro­cess­ing approach­es like EMDR. Many peo­ple spend years in talk ther­a­py gain­ing insight into their trau­ma — with­out expe­ri­enc­ing any reduc­tion in how strong­ly it still affects them. EMDR is designed to pro­duce that shift.

EMDR vs. Somatic Experiencing (SE)

Somat­ic Expe­ri­enc­ing works with the phys­i­cal sen­sa­tions stored in the body and can be espe­cial­ly help­ful for peo­ple who dis­so­ci­ate eas­i­ly or who don’t have clear nar­ra­tive mem­o­ries of their trau­ma. EMDR also address­es the body’s response to trau­ma but fol­lows a more struc­tured process. Many trau­ma spe­cial­ists com­bine both approach­es — using SE to build body aware­ness and EMDR for tar­get­ed mem­o­ry pro­cess­ing.

“I spent three years in ther­a­py talk­ing about what hap­pened to me. I under­stood it intel­lec­tu­al­ly. But my body still react­ed the same way every time. EMDR was the first thing that changed what I felt, not just what I knew.”

 

 

 

Benefits and Drawbacks of EMDR Therapy

Benefits

Things to Be Aware Of

The dis­com­fort that some­times fol­lows an EMDR ses­sion is not a sign that some­thing is going wrong. It is a sign that some­thing is mov­ing. Heal­ing, by its nature, involves a peri­od of adjust­ment before things set­tle into a new nor­mal.

 

Ready to Start Heal­ing? Book a Free Con­sul­ta­tion

 

How to Choose the Right EMDR Therapist

Not all EMDR providers have the same lev­el of train­ing, and know­ing the dif­fer­ence can make a real impact on your expe­ri­ence. This is one of the most impor­tant things to under­stand when look­ing for EMDR ther­a­py — and one of the least talked about.

EMDR-Trained

A ther­a­pist described as “EMDR-trained” has com­plet­ed the foun­da­tion­al train­ing pro­gram — rough­ly 40–50 hours of instruc­tion includ­ing super­vised prac­tice. This gives them a sol­id work­ing knowl­edge of the pro­to­col. That said, the depth of expe­ri­ence beyond that basic train­ing varies wide­ly from one ther­a­pist to the next.

EMDRIA Certified

A ther­a­pist cer­ti­fied by the EMDR Inter­na­tion­al Asso­ci­a­tion (EMDRIA) has gone a step fur­ther — com­plet­ing at least 20 addi­tion­al hours of super­vised con­sul­ta­tion with an approved con­sul­tant, and a min­i­mum of 50 EMDR ses­sions with at least 25 clients. Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion reflects a high­er lev­el of demon­strat­ed skill and an ongo­ing com­mit­ment to the approach.

EMDRIA Approved Consultant

This is the high­est lev­el of EMDRIA cre­den­tial­ing. An Approved Con­sul­tant has com­plet­ed exten­sive addi­tion­al train­ing and is autho­rized to super­vise and con­sult oth­er EMDR clin­i­cians. It rep­re­sents deep exper­tise in the modal­i­ty.

Questions to Ask a Potential Provider

Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion does not auto­mat­i­cal­ly guar­an­tee a good fit — a well-trained ther­a­pist with sol­id clin­i­cal expe­ri­ence can be excel­lent. But if you are deal­ing with com­plex trau­ma, child­hood abuse, or deeply root­ed issues, work­ing with a cer­ti­fied or con­sul­tant-lev­el clin­i­cian sig­nif­i­cant­ly increas­es the chances that your treat­ment will be deliv­ered with the care and pre­ci­sion your sit­u­a­tion calls for.

 

Who EMDR May Not Be Right For

 

EMDR is one of the most flex­i­ble and wide­ly applic­a­ble ther­a­pies avail­able — but it is not the right fit for every per­son or every sit­u­a­tion. Being upfront about this is part of respon­si­ble, eth­i­cal care.

Active Psychosis or Severe Dissociation

EMDR repro­cess­ing requires you to hold two things in mind at once — aware­ness of the present moment and access to a past mem­o­ry. For some­one expe­ri­enc­ing active psy­chosis or severe, unman­aged dis­so­ci­a­tion, this may not be safe­ly pos­si­ble with­out sig­nif­i­cant spe­cial­ist sup­port and mod­i­fi­ca­tions to the stan­dard approach.

Active Suicidal Crisis

EMDR repro­cess­ing is not the right step when some­one is in acute cri­sis. In those sit­u­a­tions, the pri­or­i­ty is safe­ty, sta­bi­liza­tion, and appro­pri­ate sup­port. The prepara­to­ry stages of EMDR can still be used dur­ing this peri­od — but tar­get­ed mem­o­ry repro­cess­ing waits until the per­son is sta­ble enough to han­dle the tem­po­rary emo­tion­al inten­si­ty that pro­cess­ing can bring.

Limited Coping Skills

If you do not yet have reli­able ways to man­age emo­tion­al dis­tress, div­ing into repro­cess­ing can feel over­whelm­ing. A respon­si­ble EMDR ther­a­pist will spend mean­ing­ful time in the prepa­ra­tion phase — teach­ing ground­ing tech­niques, build­ing cop­ing tools, and mak­ing sure you are ready before any repro­cess­ing begins. Skip­ping this step is the most com­mon mis­take in EMDR prac­tice.

Certain Medical Conditions

Peo­ple with cer­tain neu­ro­log­i­cal con­di­tions, recent eye surgery, or spe­cif­ic seizure dis­or­ders should speak with both their ther­a­pist and their doc­tor before start­ing EMDR. In many cas­es, alter­na­tive forms of bilat­er­al stim­u­la­tion — such as tap­ping or audio tones — can be used instead.

When the Main Issue Is Not Trauma-Based

If your pri­ma­ry con­cern is improv­ing com­mu­ni­ca­tion in your rela­tion­ship, nav­i­gat­ing a career change, or build­ing a stronger sense of iden­ti­ty, EMDR may not be the first step. How­ev­er, many of these con­cerns do have roots in unre­solved past expe­ri­ences — and a skilled EMDR ther­a­pist will help you explore whether that is the case before decid­ing on the best approach.

 

Signs That EMDR Is Working

 

EMDR does not always pro­duce sud­den, dra­mat­ic break­throughs. For some peo­ple the shifts are fast and unmis­tak­able. For oth­ers — espe­cial­ly those with long or com­plex trau­ma his­to­ries — the changes are more grad­ual and may only become clear in hind­sight.

Here are the signs that tell you pro­cess­ing is tak­ing hold:

Changes in How You Experience the Memory

Changes in Your Daily Life

Changes in How You See Yourself

“The mem­o­ry is still there. But it’s like the vol­ume got turned down. I can remem­ber with­out drown­ing in it.”

 

What Happens Between Sessions — and How to Manage It

 

One of the least dis­cussed parts of EMDR ther­a­py is what hap­pens after you leave the ses­sion. Because EMDR acti­vates the brain’s pro­cess­ing sys­tem, that pro­cess­ing does not always stop when the ses­sion ends.

In the hours and days after a ses­sion, you may notice:

These effects are tem­po­rary and are gen­er­al­ly a sign that pro­cess­ing is active. That said, they can cre­ate real chal­lenges at work and in your rela­tion­ships — espe­cial­ly if the peo­ple around you do not under­stand what you are going through.

How to Talk to a Partner

You do not need to share the details of your ses­sions. What tends to help most is giv­ing your part­ner a sim­ple frame for what they are see­ing:

“I’m doing a type of ther­a­py called EMDR that helps my brain process dif­fi­cult mem­o­ries. After ses­sions, I may seem more emo­tion­al, tired, or qui­eter than usu­al. It’s not about you — it’s a nor­mal part of the process and it’s tem­po­rary. The most help­ful thing is a lit­tle space and patience. I’m doing this because I want to feel bet­ter — for me and for us.”

How to Talk to an Employer

You are not required to dis­close that you are in ther­a­py. If side effects are affect­ing your work, you can keep it sim­ple:

“I’m receiv­ing treat­ment for a health con­di­tion that occa­sion­al­ly affects my ener­gy and con­cen­tra­tion. I may need some flex­i­bil­i­ty with sched­ul­ing on treat­ment days. I’m active­ly man­ag­ing it and don’t expect it to have a long-term impact on my work.”

If pos­si­ble, con­sid­er sched­ul­ing ses­sions at the end of your work­day or before a lighter day. Most peo­ple find the most intense pro­cess­ing hap­pens in the first 24–48 hours, with things set­tling after that.

Self-Care Between Sessions

 

You Do Not Have to Stay Stuck in What Happened to You

 

The mem­o­ries that keep you up at night, the beliefs that tell you that you are not safe or not good enough, the way your body braces itself in sit­u­a­tions that should feel ordi­nary — these are not char­ac­ter flaws. They are not signs of weak­ness.

They are the pre­dictable result of expe­ri­ences that were too much for your ner­vous sys­tem to han­dle at the time.

EMDR does not ask you to for­get what hap­pened. It does not ask you to for­give before you are ready, to nar­rate every detail, or to be strong. It only asks that you be will­ing to let your brain do the work it was built to do — with the sup­port of a trained pro­fes­sion­al who knows how to make that process safe.

The peo­ple who seek EMDR are not bro­ken. They are car­ry­ing some­thing that was nev­er meant to be car­ried indef­i­nite­ly. Ther­a­py is how you set it down — not by pre­tend­ing it nev­er hap­pened, but by allow­ing it to become part of your sto­ry instead of the thing that defines it.

If you are in Utah, Texas, or Vir­ginia and would like to explore whether EMDR is the right step for you, Bridge­Hope Fam­i­ly Ther­a­py offers a free 15-minute con­sul­ta­tion to help you find out.

Take the First Step — Reach Out Today 

 

People Have EMDR Success Stories

 

“I think that I am heal­ing more and more from past trau­ma. EMDR ther­a­py and the indi­vid­ual talks we have through psy­chother­a­py are going well. I’m learn­ing to stay in the present and com­mu­ni­ca­tion tech­niques when emo­tions are height­ened.” Joanne, Utah

 

“I feel like I have been able to over­come some trau­mas that have been plagu­ing me for a long time and have for­giv­en some peo­ple that I need­ed to. I am find­ing that I can rec­og­nize things about myself now that I was not able to — and have been able to let go of issues I nev­er knew were affect­ing me.” Tom­my, Texas

 

EMDR Therapy FAQs

 

How many EMDR sessions will I need?

It depends on the nature and com­plex­i­ty of what you are work­ing through. For a sin­gle trau­mat­ic event, many peo­ple see sig­nif­i­cant improve­ment in 3–6 ses­sions. For more com­plex or long-stand­ing trau­ma, an aver­age of 12 ses­sions tends to pro­duce mean­ing­ful results — though some peo­ple need more. Your ther­a­pist will give you a clear­er pic­ture after an ini­tial assess­ment.

Does EMDR work for anxiety and depression, not just PTSD?

Yes. While EMDR is best known as a trau­ma treat­ment, research sup­ports its effec­tive­ness for anx­i­ety, depres­sion, pho­bias, grief, chron­ic pain, and per­for­mance anx­i­ety. Many of these con­di­tions have roots in past adverse expe­ri­ences, and EMDR’s abil­i­ty to process those under­ly­ing mem­o­ries often pro­duces broad­er relief than treat­ing the sur­face symp­toms alone.

Will I have to describe my trauma in detail during EMDR?

No — and this sur­pris­es many peo­ple. EMDR does not require you to nar­rate what hap­pened in full. You will be asked to bring the mem­o­ry to mind and notice what comes up, but you do not have to tell the whole sto­ry out loud. This makes it par­tic­u­lar­ly valu­able for expe­ri­ences that are too painful to put into words, or that involve cir­cum­stances you are not com­fort­able dis­clos­ing.

Is online EMDR therapy as effective as in-person?

Research sup­ports the effec­tive­ness of EMDR deliv­ered via secure video plat­forms. The ther­a­peu­tic rela­tion­ship — which is the sin­gle most impor­tant fac­tor in any ther­a­py — can be built and main­tained effec­tive­ly online. Bridge­Hope Fam­i­ly Ther­a­py offers online EMDR ther­a­py across Utah, Texas, and Vir­ginia via a HIPAA-com­pli­ant video plat­form.

What does bilateral stimulation actually feel like?

Dur­ing eye move­ment bilat­er­al stim­u­la­tion, your ther­a­pist will move their fin­gers or a light bar side to side while you fol­low with your eyes — sim­i­lar to watch­ing some­thing move across your field of vision. It is not uncom­fort­able, though it can feel unusu­al at first. Some peo­ple find tap­ping (light taps on the hands or knees) or audio tones (sounds that alter­nate between left and right) more com­fort­able. Your ther­a­pist will work with you to find what works best.

Can EMDR make things worse?

Tem­porar­i­ly, it can increase emo­tion­al inten­si­ty — this is nor­mal and expect­ed, not a sign that some­thing has gone wrong. This is why sta­bi­liza­tion and prepa­ra­tion are non-nego­tiable first steps. At Bridge­Hope, no repro­cess­ing begins until there is a strong enough foun­da­tion to ensure that ses­sions move things for­ward, not back­ward.

How is EMDR different from hypnosis?

EMDR is not hyp­no­sis and does not involve a trance state. You remain ful­ly con­scious, aware of your sur­round­ings, and in con­trol through­out every ses­sion. You can stop at any point. The bilat­er­al stim­u­la­tion acti­vates your brain’s nat­ur­al pro­cess­ing sys­tem — it does not put you in a sug­gestible or altered state.

 

 

 

 

REFERENCES 

Chen, Y. R., et al. (2015). Effi­ca­cy of eye move­ment desen­si­ti­za­tion and repro­cess­ing for patients with PTSD: A meta-analy­sis of RCTs. PLOS ONE, 10(4).

Hem­bree, E. A., et al. (2003). Do patients drop out pre­ma­ture­ly from expo­sure ther­a­py for PTSD? Jour­nal of Trau­mat­ic Stress, 16(6).

Iron­son, G., et al. (2002). Com­par­i­son of two treat­ments for trau­mat­ic stress: EMDR and Pro­longed Expo­sure. Jour­nal of Clin­i­cal Psy­chol­o­gy, 58(1).

Shapiro, F. (2018). Eye Move­ment Desen­si­ti­za­tion and Repro­cess­ing Ther­a­py: Basic Prin­ci­ples, Pro­to­cols, and Pro­ce­dures (3rd ed.). Guil­ford Press.

van der Kolk, B. A., et al. (2007). A ran­dom­ized clin­i­cal tri­al of EMDR, flu­ox­e­tine, and pill place­bo in the treat­ment of PTSD. Jour­nal of Clin­i­cal Psy­chi­a­try, 68(1).

Wil­son, S. A., Beck­er, L. A., & Tin­ker, R. H. (1997). Fif­teen-month fol­low-up of EMDR treat­ment of PTSD and anx­i­ety. Jour­nal of Con­sult­ing and Clin­i­cal Psy­chol­o­gy, 65(6).

World Health Orga­ni­za­tion. (2013). Guide­lines for the Man­age­ment of Con­di­tions Specif­i­cal­ly Relat­ed to Stress. WHO.