EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) is a type of therapy useful in the treatment of a variety of trauma and stress disorders as well as with phobias as a short-term type of exposure therapy.

EMDR “rewires” your brain to remove the emotionality of the trauma experience and replace this with a more factual account so that details of the event or experience can be recalled without emotional distress.

The therapy was first discovered and researched by Dr. Francine Shapiro in the 1980s. She came to notice that when particular repetitive eye movements were done while thinking about something distressing that the intensity of the distress would be reduced. Her work evolved from what she noticed as natural inclinations to intentionally produced bi-lateral stimulation, that could include eye movement, but also functioned in the same way using any type of bilateral sensory experience.

EMDR is based on the adaptive information processing model that holds the idea that negative thoughts and feelings are due to unprocessed memories and associated emotions held in the limbic system in raw sensory form and that once processed these memories and emotions can be understood based on the facts of the situation without the emotional attachment which causes the distress.

Patients report starting EMDR with a low sense of self and may be anxious, angry or sad due to feelings of hopelessness and a loss of control over the traumatic event. After EMDR therapy patients report a greater sense of control and higher self-worth, as well as a more calm and settled response about the original event(s).