Healing Trauma with EMDR
By Deanna Freed, LMSW, CAADC
What Is EMDR?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a psychotherapy approach developed by Francine Shapiro in 1987 to help people process and heal from trauma and distressing life experiences. EMDR was originally developed for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), but research and clinical experience have since shown it can also help with:
Anxiety
Panic attacks
Phobias
Depression
Attachment wounds
Childhood trauma
Chronic stress responses
Medical trauma
Performance anxiety
Negative self-beliefs.
EMDR is based on the understanding that the mind and nervous system naturally want to heal, much like the body heals physical injuries. Much of this natural emotional processing appears to occur during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, when the brain sorts through experiences and stores memories in a healthier, more integrated way. EMDR is believed to mimic what happens in the brain during REM sleep and help with processing of disturbing memories and emotions.
What is Trauma?
Trauma is not defined only by the event itself, but by how the nervous system experiences and stores the event. A traumatic experience may be any experience associated with:
Overwhelming emotional distress
Helplessness
Fear
Shame
Danger
Emotional pain that exceeds our ability to cope or process at the time.
Not all trauma is dramatic or obvious. Some trauma develops slowly over time through repeated negative emotional experiences, especially in childhood. Experiences may be:
Emotional neglect
Verbal abuse
Constant criticism
Unpredictability of caregivers
Violence in the home
Betrayal trauma
Lack of emotional safety
These types of experiences can deeply shape the nervous system & core beliefs about self and others & may be experienced as traumatic. Even if someone does not consciously think of these experiences as “trauma,” the brain and body can still store them as emotionally disturbing and unresolved & often attaches negative core beliefs linked with the traumatic experience that may still be the program running our adult lives.
What Is Unresolved Trauma?
Normally, the brain processes experiences and stores them appropriately in long-term memory. Over time, emotionally difficult experiences become integrated into our life story and begin to feel like something that just happened in the past. However, when an experience is too overwhelming, frightening, painful, or repetitive, the brain’s natural coping system can become overloaded. Instead of being fully processed, aspects of the experience can become “frozen” in the nervous system. These unprocessed memories may remain stored in a raw emotional and sensory form rather than as a fully organized narrative memory. This means traumatic memories are often stored as: images, body sensations, emotions, sounds, smells, physical reactions & negative beliefs about self or others. Trauma memory is not just cognitive (thought/image) memory. The body and nervous system also remember. When trauma remains unresolved, the brain and body have not fully recognized the experience as being over. The nervous system may continue operating as though the danger still exists. This can lead to:
Chronic worry/anxiety
Chronic stress states
Emotional reactivity
Panic attacks
Emotional numbing
Shame/low self-worth
Depression
Feeling unsafe
Difficulty trusting
Relationship problems
Sleep disturbance
These negative beliefs often begin as survival responses during overwhelming experiences, particularly in childhood. Over time, they can become generalized and deeply wired into the brain’s neural networks, affecting present-day relationships, emotions, and reactions even when current reality is different from the past. EMDR can help edit and update these beliefs to feel more supportive and realistic.
How EMDR Works
EMDR helps the brain reprocess experiences that became stuck or incompletely processed. During EMDR therapy, a person briefly focuses on aspects of a distressing memory while simultaneously engaging in bilateral stimulation (BLS). Bilateral stimulation will be explained by the therapist, and it may include guided eye movements, alternating tapping, alternating sounds through headphones, hand-held pulsers or other forms of BLS. Bilateral stimulation activates both sides of the brain and appears to support the brain’s natural processing system, similar to processes that occur during REM sleep. This process incorporates memory reconsolidation — the brain’s ability to revisit, edit & update patterned trauma responses & stored emotional memories.
What to expect during EMDR therapy?
Before beginning the trauma reprocessing component, the therapist spends time gathering history, assessing readiness, supporting client in developing coping and grounding strategies to use during the processing. Clients remain fully in control throughout therapy and can pause at any time. During reprocessing: The client identifies a distressing memory or target experience & the therapist will guide the client through a series of reflections associated with emotions, body sensations and negative beliefs about the memory as well as a healthier belief the client would prefer. This is discussed before the process begins. The client is not trying to force, change or analyze the memory. Instead, the brain naturally begins linking information and processing the experience in a healthier way so it can be filed away as a past experience. The experience remains remembered, but it begins to feel truly in the past & the associated distress significantly reduces.
How is EMDR Different from Other Therapies?
Unlike some traditional talk therapies, EMDR does not require clients to repeatedly describe traumatic events in extensive detail. Instead of focusing primarily on talking about the experience, EMDR focuses on helping the brain and nervous system process the experience. Many clients experience meaningful improvement in fewer sessions compared to some traditional talk therapies, though treatment length varies depending on the complexity of trauma and individual needs.
Healing from Trauma
Healing does not mean forgetting what happened. Healing means the memory no longer feels overwhelming; the nervous system no longer reacts as though the danger is still present, emotional and physical reactivity decreases. Beliefs shift into healthier, more realistic beliefs and the person gains greater freedom, sense of safety, and emotional regulation in the present. EMDR is a therapy that can assist people move from surviving their past to more fully living in the present.
In essence, the brain and body finally recognize: “It is over. I survived. I am safe now.”.
If you are interested in learning more about EMDR or think you may want to get started, All Things Possible Wellness Center has EMDR trained clinicians that can support you in this process. The link below is a brief video further explaining EMDR in the brain.