How EMDR Therapy Works (Without the Jargon)

If you’re struggling with unresolved trauma or distressing thoughts, EMDR may be a valuable option for your healing journey. If you have tried talk therapy and got stuck you might be referred for EMDR to try methods that work at a different starting point. Especially if you have intrusive images, thoughts, sounds, or even smells EMDR likely is an excellent way to change your connection and anxiety over this trigger. Consult with a trained EMDR therapist to explore how this approach can support your recovery.

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, but don’t worry, you don’t need to remember all that. Here’s what actually happens:

How EMDR Therapy Works – Phases of Treatment

Your first phase is assessment where you get to be in control of how much you share and how many details. You will be asked about your thoughts about yourself related to your trauma so that we can pair a thought and an image to process later. Your second phase is about learning ways to calm yourself. This phase can be short or it can last while to make sure you have tools to take good care of yourself. Most of them are simple to learn and you will practice them in and out of sessions.

In the next phase, you’ll revisit a memory or feeling from a past trauma but you won’t do it alone. Your therapist helps you safely bring up that memory, along with the thoughts or beliefs that still feel painful or stuck.

Then comes the “magic” part: bilateral stimulation. That just means doing something that gently engages both sides of your brain, like watching lights move back and forth, tapping on your shoulders, chest, or legs, or using small buzzers you hold. While your brain is busy with that light distraction, you focus on the memory.

This gives your brain the chance to reprocess it, kind of like taking a file that was stuck and helping it move into long-term storage without setting off your internal alarm bells anymore.

As the memory becomes less distressing, your therapist helps you shift to a more helpful, grounded belief about yourself. One that actually supports your healing.

What’s Really Happening in Your Brain During EMDR: The Working Memory Edition (Nerd lite)

At its core, EMDR therapy uses your brain’s working memory to help desensitize distressing memories from trauma.

Here’s how it works:

Your working memory is like your brain’s mental “scratchpad” it’s what you use to temporarily hold and process information. But it has limited capacity. That’s important.

In EMDR, your therapist guides you to bring up a distressing image, memory, or belief that’s linked to past trauma. At the same time, you engage in something called bilateral stimulation, like eye movements, alternating tapping, or buzzers that activate both sides of your body and brain.

This creates a dual attention task:
You’re holding a charged memory and processing bilateral input at once.

Because your working memory has limited bandwidth, the emotional intensity of the traumatic memory gets disrupted. Your brain can’t fully keep the memory vivid while it’s also managing the stimulation. It “scrambles” the distress signal just enough to allow you to reprocess the memory without getting overwhelmed.

Over repeated sets, the memory becomes less vivid, less distressing, and more neutral. Once the distress drops significantly, your therapist will help you “install” a new, more adaptive belief. This replaces old trauma-based thoughts like “I’m not safe” with something like “I survived” or “I’m in control now.”

This is not hypnosis or suppression. It’s how your brain naturally integrates unresolved material when it finally feels safe and supported enough to do so.

Who Can Benefit from EMDR?

EMDR is effective for people experiencing:

• PTSD and trauma
• Anxiety and panic attacks
• Depression
• Grief and loss
• Phobias
• Performance anxiety

Why Choose EMDR?

• Fast-acting: Many people report significant relief after just a few sessions.
• Holistic: EMDR addresses both emotional and physical responses to trauma.
• Empowering: People regain control over their memories and emotional responses.

How EMDR Therapy Works = Is it Safe?

Yes, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is considered a safe and effective therapeutic approach. It is an evidence-based treatment that has been extensively researched and is widely used for trauma recovery and other mental health conditions. Skilled EMDR therapists have the ability to adapt your treatment to your specific needs, especially related to the speed of your processing and need for support. You can learn more about how I work with complex trauma here → EMDR for Complex Trauma: Why Experience (and Customization) Matter