EMDR, or eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, has been a trending therapy in recent years. I’ve seen various Tik Toks about the helpfulness of EMDR as a type of trauma therapy, and for good reason! There is a ton of research behind the effectiveness of EMDR. But with all trends, there are some misconceptions and myths. EMDR can often be marketed as a ‘cure all’, and folks can be influenced to give it a try without doing much research about what EMDR actually is. This can sometimes lead to some let downs in therapy. My goal with this blog post is to give as much education as I can around EMDR as a therapist, as well as my own personal experiences doing EMDR as a client, to help you as the reader understand what it can look like and if it is right for you.
Understanding EMDR
EMDR utilizes bilateral stimulation to both desensitize painful and traumatic events as well as strengthen newer adaptive belief systems. Bilateral stimulation has traditionally been done through eye movements, but it can also be done through physical tapping, audio, or a device I refer to as “tappers”, where you hold a small device in each hand and it vibrates back and forth. The use of bilateral stimulation helps someone process through a traumatic event in smaller doses to reduce the likelihood of memories flooding back by just talking about it. Through engaging in this desensitization process, you don’t forget the memory, but rather you are able to look back on it without your body responding as if it was back in that moment. What’s cool about EMDR is that there isn’t necessarily a need to even talk about the event directly during the processing phase, although of course this can still come up.
Negative belief systems stem from traumatic events and can be equally as distressing as the event itself, as we experience the outer world through the lens of the belief systems we’ve developed from our life experiences. You can imagine that if someone holds the belief “I’m not good enough” (a common belief system developed as a result of trauma), certain life experiences like a relationship ending or making a mistake are going to feel more difficult than they already would without that belief. Following the desensitization phase, the reprocessing phase of EMDR helps to strengthen the adaptive belief and phase out the negative belief. These negative belief systems tend to wear paths in our brain that get so deep, it can be hard to shift out of them through talk therapy alone. EMDR assists in bringing someone out of these paths and wearing new paths that are more in accordance with the adaptive belief. So, say if we were to start with the negative belief “I’m not good enough”, a typical adaptive belief to replace this would be “I’m enough as I am”.
EMDR in Action
A lot of folks come into therapy wondering what EMDR is going to look like from session to session. EMDR is split up into 8 phases:
1. History Gathering: Information is gathered around what brings you to therapy and how EMDR could be helpful for you and your treatment goals. A treatment plan is developed during this phase to hone in on specific goals for therapy.
2. Preparation: During the phase, your therapist will provide an in depth explanation of the EMDR therapy process and what the rest of the process will look like. Any questions you may have about EMDR can be answered during this phase, but of course can be answered at any point during the treatment process. Resources are also developed during this phase. A resource is a tool that can be utilized to manage dysregulation during and in between sessions, like an inner peaceful place or a container. The first two phases can take place over the course of several sessions.
3. Assessment: In this phase, discussion is had around what you as the client would like to focus on in EMDR therapy, otherwise known as the target. The negative belief and adaptive belief are also identified during this phase. Past experiences, both in childhood and adulthood, are identified that share the same negative belief as the target memory. Even future moments where the negative belief could come up are identified in this phase. The same experiences are identified for the adaptive belief as well. An initial distress level (SUD, or subjective unit of distress) and VoC (validity of cognition – how true the adaptive belief feels right now) is established during this phase.
4. Desensitization: bilateral stimulation is utilized to start desensitizing the target event. Distress level and VoC are assessed at the beginning of every processing session. Once the distress level is as close to 0 as it can get, you can move into the next phase.
5. Installation: the adaptive belief is strengthened and associated with the target event through the use of bilateral stimulation. This is continued until the adaptive belief is as true as it can feel.
6. Body Scan: the target event and the adaptive belief are held in mind while you are scanning your body physically from head to toe. Any lingering distress that is showing up physically is cleared out through reprocessing.
7. Closure: each reprocessing session (in phases 4 and 5) end with closure to assist you as the client to reground into the present moment. Reprocessing is considered complete when the distress level is as low as it can go and the adaptive belief is as true as it can feel.
8. Re-evaluation: the last few sessions following the completion of a target involve discussion of recently processed memories and new targets for EMDR are identified if further treatment is needed.
EMDR Myths
With EMDR being a trending treatment in recent years, it’s important to address some common misconceptions so you can make a more informed decision on if EMDR is right for you.
– Myth 1: EMDR can only be used to treat PTSD/trauma: EMDR is often utilized to treat trauma symptoms. However, it can also be used for anxiety, depression, addiction, chronic pain, phobias, unresolved grief, and disordered eating. As long as there is a target and a negative belief to be addressed, EMDR can be used!
– Myth 2: EMDR processing starts early on in treatment: this is one misconception that can come up from time to time with the folks that I serve. As you saw above with the different phases of EMDR, we may not actually get to processing for a little while! Additionally,
relationship building, while the most important part of any therapy, is especially important in the EMDR treatment process.
– Myth 3: EMDR is a ‘quick fix’: Don’t get me wrong, EMDR is quick relative to how long treating trauma can typically take with talk therapy alone. However, it is not as quick as you would think! A commonly asked question I get is, ‘how long will it take?’. It’s pretty difficult to estimate that, as it really depends on each person’s experience and history. I can say that it’s not something that can be completed in a few sessions, it will most certainly take longer than that. My feedback for folks is to be patient with the process.
– Myth 4: EMDR is pseudoscience: EMDR is an evidenced-based therapy that is backed up by years of research since its inception in the 1980s. There is so much of it that I can’t include all of it in this blog post, but a quick google search will bring up an extensive history of EMDR as well as the research that has been completed around its effectiveness.
My Experience with EMDR as a Client
Admittedly it took me a couple years after being trained as an EMDR therapist to really give it a meaningful shot in my own therapy journey. I think I had some of my own reservations and fears about what EMDR would look like for me on the other side of the therapy space as the client. I also struggle with shifting out of my EMDR trained therapist brain and into a vulnerable space in my own therapy (fellow therapists I’m sure know that struggle 😉 ). However, I was able to get to that space with my current therapist, and realized that EMDR has been helpful for me in processing through some difficult stuff in manageable pieces, all while feeling relatively regulated throughout the sessions. Additionally, I was able to notice feeling a little more regulated in general in between sessions (disclaimer: this isn’t always the case, sometimes you can feel a little more dysregulated emotionally before feeling regulated throughout the EMDR process). I feel grateful to have had the opportunity to see what EMDR looks like from both sides of the therapy space, both for the deeper connection I have with this treatment modality but also to see how helpful it can be for treating anxiety and trauma.
Resources to Learn More about EMDR
Hopefully this blog post has piqued your curiosity a bit around EMDR, as well as given you some good information to consider if EMDR is the right treatment modality for you! For more information around EMDR, check out the list below.
– https://www.emdria.org/ : This is an international organization that “sets the standards and grants approval to individuals or organizations to provide EMDR Training.” Its website also has a ton of information about EMDR and its origins.
– https://www.emdr.com/ : This website also has a ton of information about EMDR. The EMDR institute was founded by Francine Shapiro, a psychologist who founded EMDR as a treatment modality.
– https://emdrresearchfoundation.org/ : This website is a good place to start in looking up different research studies around EMDR as a treatment modality.