EMDR Therapy

EMDR is a type of therapy used to help our brains process difficult information quickly, and to make sure that traumatic memories get “unstuck” in our memories.

It stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing because it originally used eye movements to help the brain process information quickly  - this is similar to how our brains process information quickly during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. However, it is more common now to use other types of bilateral stimulation besides rapid eye movements, such as audio tones or gentle tapping.

To understand how EMDR works, we first need to understand how traumatic memories get stored in the brain. When I refer to “trauma”, I’m referring to anything you experienced that was perceived as “too much, too fast” for your system to handle. This includes big, life-threatening traumas and experiences of abuse, but it also includes smaller relational traumas like experiencing neglect or abandonment. 

Anything you experienced that was too much for your brain to handle at the time often gets “stuck” in the memory network of your brain, usually in the right hemisphere. The right hemisphere of your brain (to simplify things) is your feeling hemisphere, and when something traumatic happens to you the memory often gets stored in the brain with the original images, thoughts, and feelings that occurred at the time of the trauma. That’s why memories stored in the right hemisphere often don’t respond to logic (since the logic center of our brain is in our left hemisphere), and why these memories can feel timeless. It’s also why whenever you experience a trigger of that trauma, it can feel to your brain like you are currently reliving that trauma. This is one of the reasons why living with the effects of trauma can be so difficult - because you may be constantly experiencing triggers that make your brain think you are reliving the trauma in the present.

What EMDR does is helps your brain get that difficult experience “unstuck” in your brain - It helps your brain finish processing the memory fully so it’s more integrated in both hemispheres of the brain, instead of being locked in the right hemisphere. EMDR also helps your brain realize that the difficult experience is in the past - it’s over, and it’s not something that you are currently living through.

So how does EMDR actually work? Well, EMDR is based on the Adaptive Information Processing model (AIP), which means that when given the right conditions, the brain will naturally move toward health, wholeness, and resolution. So what are those “right conditions?”

• Properly activating the trauma memory network in the brain (through the way your therapist leads you through preparing for EMDR processing)

• Adding in bilateral stimulation until the memory is fully processed

Another way of thinking about this is that EMDR uses the body’s own ability to heal itself. We know that the body has the ability to heal itself, and the body wants to move toward wholeness and healing. For example, if you get a cut on your arm (provided you keep it clean and free from infection), the body will naturally heal that cut. Well, as a part of the body, the brain works much the same way! It wants to heal itself - it just needs help creating the right conditions for it to do that.  And we can help provide those right conditions!

BIlateral stimulation (BLS) is engaging in anything that activates BOTH hemispheres of your brain at the same time. This means alternating between activating the right side of your body and the left side of your body.

There are many types of bilateral stimulation:

• Moving your eyes rapidly back and forth

• Alternately tapping your toes

• Alternately tapping on your knees

• Walking and taking steps right, left

• Listening to a tone or a chime in alternating ears of your headphone

When starting EMDR therapy, your therapist will help you explore the different BLS options and pick the one that feels most comfortable for you!

So many different things! Trauma, panic attacks, phobias, negative self beliefs, unhealthy relationship patterns…Almost anything that you can treat using talk therapy, you can also treat using EMDR therapy. It’s just a different way of doing therapy that incorporates brain science and the Adaptive Information Processing model.

At Meadow and Vine Therapy, we often see EMDR used to heal:

• Traumatic memories or experiences

• “Stuck points” that aren’t getting better in traditional talk therapy

• Negative core beliefs about the self

• The roots of anxiety and panic attacks

Yes! EMDR therapy can be effectively provided through virtual, online sessions all across California.

The defining feature of EMDR is using a technique called bilateral stimulation, which means activating both hemispheres of the brain at the same time.

If you are doing virtual therapy, all of our EMDR therapists have access to tools that can provide the necessary bilateral stimulation for EMDR therapy either on your computer screen or through your headphones (for example, through gentle chimes played alternately in your right and left headphone).

Nope! One of the things that makes EMDR so effective at treating trauma is that we don’t ask you to relive every aspect of the trauma.

In EMDR therapy for trauma, your therapist will guide you through how we bring distressing memories into the session in a way that still allows you to feel safe and in-control.

This often means first spending the time to teach you grounding and mindfulness tools that you’ll use together in session with your therapist.

EMDR is a much more structured approach to therapy than traditional, psychodynamic talk therapy.

Here’s what to expect:

We’ll spend the first several sessions preparing for EMDR processing. This means that together we’ll identify the targets that you want to process in EMDR, which can be anything from traumatic memories to negative beliefs about the self. I’ll help you find targets that will result in the most effective EMDR processing, which often means identifying the earliest experiences tied to your current distressing symptoms.

The early sessions will also be spent helping you identify resources that will help you feel strong, safe, and in control during the EMDR processing. Typically we’ll work together to identify your:

• Peaceful place

• Nurturing figures

• Protector figures

• Wisdom figures

Once we’ve identified your targets and your resources, then we will move on to the processing phase of EMDR. In these processing sessions, we’ll choose one of your target memories to process, and I will guide you through identifying the thoughts, feelings, and body sensations that are associated with that memory in order to fully activate the memory network in your brain. Then we will add the bilateral stimulation (or BLS). Once the BLS starts, you can think of the experience as a mind-body free association. Your only job is to let whatever happens happen without censoring or judging it. As your brain processes information quickly, you will be in control of when you want to stop the BLS and check in with me. You may want to stop if you feel stuck in a certain thought or memory, or if you feel like you’ve completed a part of the processing.

When we stop and check-in, I’ll ask you what’s happening and you’ll simply tell me what you’re experiencing in that moment. You don’t have to walk me through everything your brain processed, but it helps me to know where the processing paused so that I can guide you in your continued processing. I will then guide you to either continue processing with BLS, or I will direct you to return to the original memory so we can check-in about how distressing it still feels to you. 

We will continue this dance of adding the BLS and then pausing and checking in about your experience until the original memory that you started with no longer feels disturbing to you (Yes, really! Our goal is to make that memory feel as neutral as possible so you no longer have to be triggered by it). Sometimes we can fully complete processing a memory in one session, other times it may take a few sessions. 

If you’ve done traditional talk therapy before, you’ll notice that during EMDR sessions your therapist will be a lot less vocal because the focus of EMDR sessions is on your brain’s processing, not on us verbally discussing what you are experiencing. It’s important to remember that with EMDR it is your own brain that is working to heal itself, and that you are always the one in control of the process. Your therapist is there to be your guide and support and to create the optimal conditions for healing, but EMDR is based on trusting your own brain’s ability to heal itself.

Absolutely! EMDR is often used to target specific experiences, so it can be part of your overall treatment plan in talk therapy.

Not quite! There are a few prerequisites that make EMDR both possible and effective. EMDR processing might not be possible if you are currently experiencing:

• active addiction and substance use

• suicidal ideation

• symptoms of psychosis, including dissociation or multiple personalities

• symptoms of mania

• pregnancy