Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)
What is EMDR?
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) sounds technical, and honestly, it kind of is. But, what it does can be pretty remarkable! EMDR helps the brain do something it’s been trying to do on its own but hasn’t quite managed without support.
When something difficult, distressing, or traumatic happens, it’s your brains job to process it and make sense of what occurred, file it away as a past experience, and extract whatever information is useful for you to carry forward. You sleep, reflect, time passes, and the experience settles. The experience still happened, but it stops feeling like it’s happening right now!
Sometimes though, particularly when an experience is overwhelming, happens too fast, without enough safety or support around it, the processing gets interrupted. The memory doesn’t consolidate the way it’s supposed to. Instead of being stored as something that happened, it gets frozen in time, still carrying the original emotion, physical sensation, and meaning attached to it. Your brain essentially keeps it on high alert, flagged as unfinished business.
This is why trauma doesn’t always feel like a memory. It feels like a threat that’s still present. It shows up as anxiety in situations that “shouldn’t” be triggering, as shame that doesn’t respond to logic, as a body that braces before the mind even registers why.
EMDR works directly in this space. Using bilateral (side to side) stimulation such as guided eye movements, tapping, or auditory tones. EMDR activates the brain’s own processing system and allows those frozen memories to finally move. The experience doesn’t disappear, but it stops feeling like a live event, it becomes something that happened, rather than something that is still happening.
What does EMDR treat?
EMDR is best known for treating trauma, however the evidence base has grown significantly since it’s development in the 1980s.
EMDR is endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO), Phoenix Australia, and the Australian Psychological Society (APS) as a first-line treatment for PTSD, however there is extensive evidence that supports EMDR as an effective treatment for:
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex trauma (cPTSD)
- Anxiety and panic disorders
- Phobias
- Depression linked to difficult life experiences
- Grief and loss
- Low self-worth and shame
- Childhood adversity and attachment wounds
- Performance anxiety
If you are wondering whether EMDR is right for you or your child, this is worth discussing with Gemma to work out together. EMDR isn’t the right fit for every person, or every presentation and a thorough assessment will always come first.
If you’re not sure whether EMDR might help, you’re welcome to get in touch. A conversation costs nothing, and there’s no obligation.
Does EMDR work for children?
Yes! EMDR can be adapted to suit a child’s developmental stage, using play, drawing, or movement rather than purely verbal processing, and it can be particularly powerful for young people who may not have the words for their experiences or may not want to talk through every detail of what happened.
At Luma Therapeutic Services, EMDR with children is delivered in a way that is gentle, paced, and always attuned to what the child can tolerate. Parents and carers may be involved in the process and are kept informed throughout.
What happens in an EMDR session?
EMDR is not just bilateral stimulation, there’s a structured eight-phase process, and preparation is a big part of the process!
Here’s a rough roadmap to what EMDR may look like for you:
History and assessment
We start by understanding your history, identifying what we’re working toward, and making sure EMDR is the right fit. There’s no rushing this part.
Preparation and resourcing
Before processing begins, you’ll learn skills to help you stay grounded and regulated so you feel safe and in control throughout. This phase can take multiple sessions, and that’s completely normal.
Processing
This is where the bilateral stimulation comes in. You’ll hold a target memory in mind while following the movement or tapping and notice whatever comes up, thoughts, feelings, sensations, or images. You don’t need to analyse or narrate throughout, your brain does the work and your EMDR therapist prompts you throughout the process.
Integration
As processing progresses, the memory shifts. It doesn’t disappear but it stops feeling like it’s happening right now. Most people describe it as the memory becoming “just a memory”, “feeling like it’s still there but further away”, or “like I am looking at the memory through a window”.
What does EMDR feel like?
Most people find EMDR to be less distressing than they expected. Some sessions feel intense, others may feel surprisingly calm. You might notice emotions, body sensations, or unexpected memories surfacing, that’s the processing working as it should.
Between sessions, it can be normal to notice things continuing to shift. Dreams, new thoughts, or emotions that feel a little closer to the surface than usual are all common. Not everyone experiences this, and some have reported this over time. This is worth discussing as we go.
You are never pushed to go faster than feels safe. The pace is yours.
EMDR with Gemma
Gemma is a trained and accredited EMDR therapist with the EMDR Association of Australia (EMDRAA). She has completed level 1 and level 2 training and has specific experience in trauma-informed work with children, adolescents, and adults.
Gemma may also use the integration of schema therapy within her EMDR interventions.
For further information regarding EMDR, what it is, and how it may work, please see the below videos.