EMDR - The Eye Movement Thing Explained

EMDR is one of the most misunderstood therapies I offer, and one of the most effective. It's recommended by NICE for PTSD and used across NHS trauma services, yet most people still picture it as 'the eye movement thing' without much idea what it actually does or why it works.

Let's change that in the simplest terms possible

Before I get into what EMDR actually is, something I come across often is people concerned their experience isn't "big enough" to warrant this kind of work.

Trauma can be what's sometimes called big T trauma. The huge, obvious, life-altering events. But it can also be something smaller that's simply got stuck. A moment, a pattern that keeps repeating and you can't quite work out why. Those smaller things can feel just as hard to bring into a session, because they think, well, nothing really big happened, so surely this doesn't count.

It counts. If something's stuck then it's stuck. The size of the event was never really the measure.

What EMDR actually is

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing. I know,  it's a mouthful. That's probably part of the reason it sounds more intimidating than it is.

In plain terms, it's a quick and effective way of helping your mind properly process things that have happened, instead of replaying them in the present over and over. It calms down the noise, and lets you file that information away rather than it sitting there, unfiled, still calling for your attention.

In the room, that usually looks like eye movements. We use a light bar for that, or sometimes buzzers, one held in each hand. What matters is the bilateral processing: left to right, right to left. It's a bit like what happens when you dream. A huge amount of processing goes on while you sleep, but if the original event was too overwhelming, that processing doesn't always happen properly at the time. EMDR gives your brain the chance to finish that job, while you're awake, safe, and not alone in the room. You are able to go at your own pace and stop at any time. 

EMDR doesn't ask you to describe what happened in exhaustive detail, and there's no homework to complete between sessions. You don't need to relive the story out loud for it to work, the processing itself doesn't depend on you narrating every part of it.

EMDR is mostly used for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or complex post traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD). But it is increasingly being used for anxiety, panic disorders, and phobias too, and there's a growing body of research looking at its use for chronic pain.

Helping the body catch up 

One thing people don't always expect is that EMDR doesn't have to sit on its own.

Even once your mind has processed something, your body sometimes doesn't always get the memo straight away. It can still hold on. In tight shoulders, a stomach that won't settle, a chest that stays braced even once you understand, logically, that the danger's passed. That's because trauma doesn't only live in the part of the brain that handles reason. It lives in the body too, and the body needs its own signal that it's safe now, not just the mind's.

That's where Debbie, a medical herbalist I work alongside, comes in. There are times where what surfaces in an EMDR session, old patterns or things that have stayed stuck for years, needs more than the psychological work alone to properly settle. Debbie supports that from a herbal perspective, helping the body feel resourced and safe enough to actually exhale and let something go, rather than the mind having reprocessed it while the body is still holding its breath. 

It ends up being a bit of a wraparound. Working on the same thing from the psychological and the physical side. Until the whole system, not just the thinking part of it, finally believes it's safe.

If you're wondering whether this is for you

You don't need a dramatic story to justify looking into EMDR. If something's stuck, and it's getting in your way, that's reason enough.

There's more on the website about how I work, or if you have any questions you would like answering you're welcome to book a quick call with me.