By Carol Goh
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What is EMDR?
EMDR is a therapeutic technique often used to treat people who have experienced trauma. It helps address the causes of symptoms such as depression, anxiety, sleep difficulties, and mood swings. EMDR is regarded as one of the important approaches for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Every person is shaped by experiences. Early experiences get encoded in memory networks and influence how we perceive the world. Even in supportive families, unprocessed negative memories can linger and drive overreactions that hurt us or those around us, affecting current functioning across work, study, and relationships (Shapiro, 2013).
Though past events are over, their emotional imprints can remain “live” and resurface when triggered—giving rise to PTSD. As Shapiro (2016) notes: “The past affects the present even without our being aware of it.” EMDR offers a structured way to bring healing to such memories.
What brings people into therapy?
A common theme is feeling helpless:
- “I feel stuck.”
- “I don’t know why I keep doing these things.”
- “Why can’t I feel better about myself?”
- “I know I should think differently, but I don’t.”
- “I should be able to take action, but I can’t.”
- “I always see myself as a failure and I cannot get this out of my mind.”
While many approaches can help, EMDR is especially effective when trauma is lodged in the subconscious and talk-only methods haven’t shifted the core distress.
Why childhood hurts persist if not processed
As children we are vulnerable—“small among giants.” Painful experiences may be stored with their original sensations, emotions, and beliefs. If left unprocessed, these memories can stay “hot and alive” regardless of how much time has passed (Shapiro, 2013). EMDR identifies and processes such memories because they often form the foundation of current symptoms.
Likely sources of early hurts include family members (parents, siblings, relatives) or the school environment (teachers, principals, classmates).
Negative beliefs that often need processing
- I am a failure
- I am worthless (inadequate)
- I am shameful
- I am not lovable / not good enough
- I am ugly (my looks/body are awful)
- I am stupid (not smart enough)
- I am insignificant (unimportant)
- I am a disappointment
- I am not accepted
- I deserve to die
EMDR is not hours of advice. It safely revisits targeted memories, allowing the brain to reprocess what happened sensory-, cognitive-, and emotion-wise.
What is different about EMDR?
EMDR leverages the brain’s ability to learn and update—linking past experiences with present information so that disturbing memories become properly stored.
- It uses structured procedures to organise negative/positive feelings, images, and beliefs.
- It resolves disturbing memories using bilateral stimulation (eye movements or alternating tapping).
- This is a bottom-up therapy: it activates body memory and subcortical systems first, then arrives at the thinking brain for resolution (Grand, 2001). Talk therapy is typically top-down and may have limited access to the emotional/hindbrain systems driving PTSD-type reactions.
“Insight is not the cause of change but a manifestation of change… Knowing the reason is not the same as healing.” — Shapiro (2016)
How does EMDR work?
EMDR aims to overcome emotional blocks that keep you from living well. Sets of rapid eye movements (or other bilateral stimulation) help the brain reconsolidate disturbing experiences—much like aspects of emotional processing during sleep/REM.
When clients describe and feel an image or negative memory, they activate where it is held in the nervous system—the body, hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain (Grand, 2001). EMDR helps the system complete processing so the memory becomes neutral and informative, not triggering.
Healing past hurts in the present
We aren’t responsible for what happened to us as children, but we are responsible for how we heal now. With EMDR, it’s possible to revisit and heal the past—the earlier the intervention, the better.
Clinicians also describe post-traumatic growth (Shapiro, 2013): renewed confidence, relief, and meaning—answering: What have I learned? How has it shaped me? How do I use it going forward?
What EMDR is used for
“T” traumas (big-T):
- Car accidents
- Physical abuse
- Sexual abuse
- Death of close ones
“t” traumas (small-t):
- Shame (teased on physique, performance, etc.)
- Bullying/cyberbullying (isolation, name-calling, teasing)
- Not meeting parental expectations (“I’m a failure / not good enough”)
- Emotional abuse
- Chronic stress, exam stress
- Self-esteem issues
- Depression and anxiety
Traumas are often the source of presenting issues. When processed/resolved, many symptoms fade.
Symptoms EMDR can help reduce:
- Depression, anxiety, anger
- Guilt, shame, unforgiveness
Recent research highlights
- Complex PTSD: In an intensive program, >85% of patients lost both PTSD and Complex-PTSD diagnoses after 8 days of trauma-focused treatment including EMDR (Voorendonk et al., 2020).
- Borderline personality symptoms: In PTSD patients with elevated BPD symptoms, intensive trauma-focused treatment with EMDR significantly decreased BPD symptoms alongside PTSD (de Jongh et al., 2020).
- Psychosis: A systematic review found EMDR was associated with reduced delusions/negative symptoms, less reliance on services/meds, more remissions, and fewer hospital readmissions at 2-year follow-up (Adams et al., 2020).
Related reading (internal)
- Psychotherapy — evidence-based techniques we integrate with EMDR
- Schema Therapy — addressing life traps and core needs
- Low Self-esteem — rebuilding worth after shame/criticism
- Seeking Help for Depression
- Stress Counselling
- Youth Counselling
- Schizophrenia & Psychoses — trauma links and EMDR in care
Book recommendations
- EMDR: The Breakthrough Therapy for Overcoming Anxiety, Stress, and Trauma — Francine Shapiro & Margot Silk Forrest
- Getting Past Your Past — Francine Shapiro
- The EMDR Revolution: Change Your Life One Memory at a Time — Tal Croitoru
References
Adams, R., Ohlsen, S., & Wood, E. (2020). Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) for the treatment of psychosis: a systematic review. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 11(1), 1711349. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2019.1711349
De Jongh, A., Groenland, G. N., Sanches, S., Bongaerts, H., Voorendonk, E. M., & Van Minnen, A. (2020). The impact of brief intensive trauma-focused treatment for PTSD on symptoms of borderline personality disorder. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 11(1), 1721142. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2020.1721142
Voorendonk, E. M., de Jongh, A., Rozendaal, L., & Van Minnen, A. (2020). Trauma-focused treatment outcome for complex PTSD patients: results of an intensive treatment programme. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 11(1), 1783955. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2020.1783955
Grand, D. (2001). Emotional Healing at Warp Speed. Harmony Books.
Shapiro, F. (2013). Getting Past Your Past. Rodale.
Shapiro, F. (2016). EMDR: The Breakthrough “Eye Movement” Therapy for Overcoming Anxiety, Stress, and Trauma. Basic Books.
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