EMDR is one of those therapies that sounds implausible when you first hear it described. A treatment for trauma that involves moving your eyes from side to side? Understandable scepticism. And yet it has become one of the most well-evidenced treatments for post-traumatic stress available, recommended in clinical guidelines around the world.
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing, usually shortened to EMDR, is a structured psychological therapy developed specifically to help people recover from trauma and distressing life experiences. It uses sets of bilateral stimulation, most commonly guided side-to-side eye movements, while a person briefly holds a difficult memory in mind. The aim is to help the brain finish processing a memory that became stuck, so that recalling it no longer produces the same intensity of distress.
Why some memories get stuck
Most experiences are processed by the brain without any conscious effort. The event happens, the brain files it, and over time it becomes an ordinary memory. You can recall it, and it feels like something that happened in the past.
When something is overwhelming, that filing process can fail. The memory is stored in a raw, unprocessed state, still carrying the original sensations, emotions, and beliefs. This is why trauma memories behave so differently to ordinary ones. They intrude without invitation. They arrive with the physical sensations attached. And they do not feel like the past, they feel like now.
EMDR is designed to restart that stalled processing. The theory is that bilateral stimulation occupies part of the brain’s working memory while the difficult material is held in mind, which appears to allow the memory to be reprocessed and integrated properly. The memory does not disappear. It becomes an ordinary memory, one you can recall without being pulled back into it.
The eight phases of EMDR
EMDR follows a standardised eight-phase protocol. That structure matters, because it is what keeps the work safe and paced. The reprocessing that most people picture when they think of EMDR does not begin until several phases in.
Phase 1 · History and treatment planning
Your psychologist takes a thorough history and identifies which experiences are contributing to your current difficulties. Nothing is processed at this stage.
Phase 2 · Preparation
This is the foundation, and it is not rushed. You learn techniques for managing distress and returning yourself to a settled state. You will not move forward until you have these in place and feel steady using them.
Phase 3 · Assessment
A specific memory is identified along with the image, belief, emotion, and physical sensation attached to it, and a baseline level of distress is recorded so change can be tracked.
Phase 4 · Desensitisation
The reprocessing itself. You hold the memory in mind briefly while following sets of bilateral stimulation, pausing regularly to notice whatever has shifted. This continues until the memory no longer carries significant distress.
Phase 5 · Installation
A more accurate and helpful belief is strengthened in place of the old one, moving from something like I am powerless toward something like I survived and I am safe now.
Phase 6 · Body scan
Trauma is held physically as well as mentally, so any remaining tension connected to the memory is identified and processed.
Phase 7 · Closure
Every session ends with you settled and grounded, regardless of where the processing has reached. You do not leave mid-way through something distressing.
Phase 8 · Re-evaluation
The following session begins by checking what has held, and treatment planning is adjusted from there.
What a session actually feels like
People are often surprised by how undramatic it is. You are awake, alert, and in control throughout. EMDR is not hypnosis, and you cannot be made to do or recall anything against your will.
You are also not required to describe the memory in detail. This is one of the meaningful differences between EMDR and talking therapies, and it is a relief for many people who have found the prospect of recounting an experience out loud unbearable. Much of the processing happens internally, with only brief check-ins about what you are noticing.
Sessions can be emotionally tiring, and it is common to feel somewhat drained afterwards or to notice further processing over the following day or two. Your psychologist will discuss this with you and make sure you have strategies for managing it.
What EMDR is used for
EMDR was developed for post-traumatic stress and remains best established there, recommended in international clinical guidelines for PTSD. Its application has since broadened considerably, and it is now commonly used for:
- Single-incident trauma such as an accident, assault, or medical event
- Complex or repeated trauma, including experiences from childhood
- Distressing or intrusive memories that intrude on daily life
- Anxiety and panic where the roots lie in earlier experience, see anxiety therapy
- Grief and loss
- Phobias and specific fears
Is EMDR suitable for everyone?
No, and any practitioner who says otherwise is overselling it. EMDR requires a degree of stability before reprocessing begins, which is precisely why the preparation phase exists. For some people, particularly where distress is currently severe or where there is significant dissociation, a longer period of stabilisation is needed first, and occasionally a different approach is more appropriate altogether.
It is also not the only effective trauma treatment. Trauma-focused CBT is well evidenced, and psychodynamic approaches can be valuable for understanding how earlier experience shapes present patterns. In practice these are often combined rather than chosen between.
Considering EMDR
If you have been carrying something that still feels present rather than past, EMDR is worth a conversation. Jacob trained in trauma-focused therapy during his postgraduate research and has made EMDR a central part of his practice since, working with adults on trauma in East Fremantle.
A first session is simply a conversation about what has been happening and whether this approach suits. You can book a consultation or get in touch with questions first.
