Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an eight-phase psychotherapy approach that helps people recover from childhood trauma without having to talk at length about the traumatic experience(s). It is an effective therapy backed by much research. An EMDR therapist will help you tell important aspects of your story and will be mindful of how your culture and personal context impact you. They will build a working relationship with you and help you develop tools for coping with your current feelings. The therapist will help you find your internal (strengths and past positive experiences) and external resources (family, friends, and other community support groups), and identify experiences causing distress (traumas) as well as their relationship with current symptoms. 

Your therapist will assess your readiness to address your trauma and move at a pace that works for you. If you are not sure what event(s) have caused your struggles, an EMDR therapist can help you identify how your current symptoms are connected to past events and how they can be resolved. EMDR therapy helps clients to reprocess events from the past and triggers from the present and prepare for possible future situations. If it is too scary to talk about the past, you might start with current symptoms or even future events and address the past later. It is critically important for you to learn how to have grace and compassion for yourself as you navigate the nuances of childhood trauma. 

When you are ready to reprocess an event, your therapist will ask you important questions about it, including your thoughts, feelings, body sensations, and images. To start reprocessing, you will think about the event and follow movement with your eyes (or alternatively hold tappers in your hands, listen to tones, or do self-tapping on your chest, alternating the left and right side (butterfly hugs).

The movements are called dual stimuli or bilateral stimulation. During the reprocessing, you will notice what happens in your body, thoughts, and feelings without judging or trying to change them. You go with what comes up and briefly report changes to your therapist between sets of movements. Notice how it changes during the reprocessing sessions.

While at the beginning of EMDR, people rarely believe that how they feel can ever change, the therapy does help people reprocess traumatic events so that they are no longer stored in that raw, vivid, state-specific form. After reprocessing, people link the traumatic event with an adaptive positive belief such as “I did the best I could” or “I am safe now.” EMDR therapy helps people to orient from the past into the present as they learn new narratives and unlearn old ones. It can also help people to become less critical of themselves. 

EMDR reprocessing takes several sessions and can be done in person or remotely via telehealth. At the end of each session, your therapist will help you return to a calm place and talk to you about how to “close” down the work until your next session. The number of sessions that someone might need with EMDR therapy depends on many factors, such as if there is only one incident or many incidents of trauma, how long ago the trauma(s) were, how old a person was at the time of the traumas, and how much support was received after the trauma.

People who have experienced childhood trauma might have difficulties with emotional regulation, low self-esteem, and distorted self-perception. EMDR therapy can help you to identify and cope with your emotions and address the negative beliefs that were formed as a result of trauma. As with any therapeutic approach, individuals need to work with a qualified therapist to determine the best course of treatment for their specific needs. 

For those struggling with the effects of childhood trauma, exploring EMDR therapy may be a valuable step toward healing and recovery.