What is EMDR?
Have you ever felt stuck? Like no matter what you do, how you think, or whatever new habits you try, you just can't move past something?
Lately, I’ve been having a lot of conversations with clients in my office in Fairfax, VA about the feeling of being "stuck." Whether it’s a difficult memory that keeps replaying, a lingering sense of anxiety that you just can't seem to shake, or feeling like you know what to do but you just can't seem to do it, it can feel like you’re carrying a heavy backpack everywhere you go.
You for sure aren't alone in this. 🫣
When people come to me because they've tried traditional talk therapy and just aren't seeing the results they want, one of the most common questions I get is about EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). Oftentimes they've heard about it, but don't exactly know what it is.
Let's talk about why I love EMDR so much!
What Exactly is EMDR?
To put it simply, EMDR is a highly effective, evidence-based therapy that helps the brain process and heal from distressing or traumatic memories.
Think about it like this: when you get a bad cut, your body knows how to heal it. But if a splinter is left inside, it gets infected. Emotional and traumatic memories can act like that splinter. Traditional talk therapy is wonderful for understanding the pain, but EMDR actually helps your brain remove the splinter so the wound can finally close.
How Do Sessions Actually Work?
There's a whole protocol for EMDR that I won't get into here (I’ll save that for another blog post!), but in a nutshell- we use bilateral stimulation, either following my fingers with your eyes, holding gentle tappers that vibrate in your hands, tapping your shoulders, or listening to audio beeps. This sounds a bit weird at first, but it activates both sides of the brain to help process the memory.
During a typical session, we will: identify the memory that's causing you distress, start the bilateral stimulation, and allow your brain to naturally refile the memory in a less distressing way that decreases its emotional charge and replaces negative unhealthy thoughts (like "I'm not good enough") with more adaptive empowering beliefs.
Who Can EMDR Help?
EMDR isn’t just for major, one-time traumas. It’s a versatile tool that the World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Psychological Association (APA) recognize for treating a wide variety of struggles, including:
PTSD and acute trauma
Generalized anxiety, panic, and phobias
Complicated grief and major life transitions
Performance anxiety or chronic stress
I use it a ton in my practice with birth trauma, complex trauma, and relational/attachment wounds from childhood. Oftentimes these aren't what most people would consider typical "traumas" (think good girl conditioning that leaves a child feeling like they have to be responsible, and then they grow up to be a mom who feels like she has to handle everything on her own while she's quietly losing herself because deep down she believes that her needs don't matter 🥺).
It's incredibly powerful which is why I'm so passionate about it!