Therapy of a different kind – My Experience of Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)
What is EMDR?
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing ) is becoming increasing more popular in the therapy world. It is a psychological therapy developed around 20 years ago, utilising a naturally occurring brain mechanism that happens when we sleep (you may be familiar with Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep). It is also a NICE-recommended treatment for PTSD, and has been used successfully to treat other psychological issues such as stress, performance-related anxiety, complicated grief, and more.
How does it work?
When people experience distressing events, it can feel overwhelming and the memory of the event gets stored in a problematic way, and so the person may experience flashbacks when they get triggered by seemingly innocent things like a similar smell or sound from that original event.
EMDR utilises alternating left-right stimulation of the brain with eye movements, or tapping, to help the brain correctly process the stuck memory. When EMDR therapy is complete, the distressing events become less intense, less immediate and more like ordinary memories.
Since training in it, I have had more clients asking me whether EMDR could potentially help with their recurring patterns. Other clients are curious about the session itself and how it works. In this blog I thought I’d share my experience of having EMDR myself so you can see what it’s like behind the scenes.
My experience of EMDR as a client
Like most of the tools I incorporate in my therapy approach, I like to try them first myself and experience it fully. About 10 years ago I was struggling with fears around having gynecological examinations after experiencing medical trauma in my early twenties. The thought of having a smear test, or anything intrusive in that area would trigger a stress response in me: increased heart rate, shallow breathing, panicky feeling, tingling hands.. the list goes on. To cope with this I swung between flight mode (tearing up those smear invitations!) and fight mode (bringing this to therapy and wanting it fixed now!). And this is when my therapist mentioned trying EMDR and I decided to try it out.
My first EMDR session
My first experience of EMDR was with a trainee EMDR therapist, Lee; and an EMDR session felt very different to a ‘normal’ talking therapy session. We took time creating a ‘safe place’ where I could go to in my mind before and after sessions, which was important to create a safe baseline so that my brain could then process the trauma. The therapist asked me to described what the medical trauma was, and what I believed about myself now as a result. My belief was ‘I am not in control’ and we also thought about what a preferred belief would be, and ‘I am now in control’ felt fitting for the incident.
The therapist asked me to hold the triggering image in mind, and to follow his hand as he waved it across my line of sight, left and right, as quickly as I could follow. It was tiring work! After a ‘set’ of eye movements, we would stop, and he would ask me to report back briefly what came up for me during that set of eye movements. Then we would continue with another set of eye movements, report back, and so on. Lots of tears came forth, and we continued.
With the sets of eye movements, my mind started processing the medical trauma memory. Different facets of the memory came back – things that I had long forgotten- the doctor’s face, the smell of the hospital, how I was ignored.. it was like my mind needed to process these fragments in turn before it was able to make a coherent narrative.
What change felt like
After what felt like a long time of the eye movement work (and at times, incorporating other bilateral movements like stamping my feet left and right), the images that came in my mind gradually became more positive. I started noticing things that I could do in the future if a similar situation were to happen. I noticed the fact that I had survived that experience and I am ok. When asked to think about the original incident, I know it had happened, but the emotions were way less intense and I was able to think about the incident without the associated stress response anymore. It’s like my body now knows, ‘yes it happened, but I am ok now’.
The whole EMDR treatment took 3 sessions, and I went back to my original therapist after that. I can now undergo some gynecological exams – they are still unpleasant of course, and I still feel nervous beforehand, but the traumatic incident no longer holds me back.
My decision to train in EMDR
As it had worked so effectively for me, I wanted to offer this to clients too. After some saving up, and planning, my EMDR training started in June this year and I am on track to complete it by February 2026. Where I have used EMDR so far is where clients have experienced a traumatic incident and they find themselves being triggered, or have distressing feelings from the memory. Using EMDR I have already worked effectively with some clients and they have reported back how much of a difference it has made to them.
If you, like I once was, are held back by trauma, and you’ve tried traditional talking therapy before but not finding it resolving things for you - perhaps you can consider trying EMDR therapy.
Written by Cherry
