What is EMDR?

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing and is used in therapy to help individuals reprocess and assimilate traumatic memories into a more contextual story. Often traumatic memories are not stored like normal memories. Because of changes in the brain during trauma, memories are stored as glimpses of sensory images, smells, sounds, physical touch, etc... as opposed to a full story with a beginning, middle and end as in regular memories. EMDR helps individuals reflect on the pieces of their traumatic memory while re-assimilating their story in a less threatening way. The client will be guided with questions to reflect on certain aspects of the memory, feelings, beliefs, etc... During the activity, the client can choose to share their thoughts or keep silent while listening to the therapists questions. This activity is thought to be reflective of REM sleep, which is when we assimilate and make sense of memories as they are woven into our concept of self and the world. By actively reliving traumatic memories while simultaneously utilizing rapid eye movement, individuals are able to assimilate the full story of a traumatic memory, distinguish that the memory was in their past and reassign meaning to their trauma. Research has shown that EMDR is more effective than medication.