What is EMDR?

EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, is a powerful and evidence-based psychotherapy approach for resolving distressing life experiences.

According to the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro, your brain has a natural system for processing and healing from difficult events. Most of the time, it works well.

However, when an experience is too overwhelming, the brain's processing system can get knocked offline. The memory of that event gets improperly stored—or "stuck"—in the brain with the original images, sounds, emotions, and body sensations.

Clinician Michael Coy uses the analogy of a file cabinet. Most memories are like neat files you can open, review, and close. A "stuck" memory, however, is like a file that has exploded, scattering its contents everywhere. When something in the present reminds you of that event, the whole messy file bursts open, and it can feel like you're reliving it all over again.

The goal of EMDR is to get your brain's natural information processing system back online so it can properly file away that memory.

We do this by using bilateral stimulation (such as following a light with your eyes or gentle tapping) while you briefly bring the memory to mind. This stimulation helps the two hemispheres of your brain communicate, allowing the "stuck" information to start moving.

A key part of this process is dual awareness. Michael Coy describes this with the train analogy:

The memory is like a train. In the past, when you were triggered, you were on the train, reliving the experience. With EMDR, you are on the platform, watching the train go by. You are always aware that you are safely in the present moment, in the office with me, while the memory passes by.

This process allows you to work through the memory without feeling overwhelmed by it.

EMDR does not erase the memory. The goal is what Dr. Shapiro called an "adaptive resolution."

As your brain processes the memory, it begins to "link up" with more helpful, adaptive information in your other memory networks. The original memory gets integrated, and the "messy file" is put away neatly.

Afterward, you will still remember what happened, but it will no longer have the same emotional charge or "sting." You will have learned what is useful from the experience and left the rest in the past, where it belongs.