What is EMDR therapy, and how does it help with trauma?

If you've started looking into trauma therapy, you've probably come across the letters EMDR. It sounds technical—Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing—but the idea behind it is surprisingly intuitive.

The short version

EMDR helps your brain finish processing a memory that got "stuck." When something overwhelming happens, the brain can store the experience in a raw, unprocessed form—images, sensations, and beliefs frozen at the moment of distress. That's why a trauma memory can feel like it's happening now rather than something that happened then. EMDR helps move that memory into normal storage, so it loses its intensity.

How a session works

While you briefly bring a distressing memory to mind, the therapist guides you through sets of bilateral stimulation—gentle left-right cues such as eye movements, tones, or taps. This appears to support the brain's natural processing, similar to what happens during REM sleep. Over time, the memory becomes less charged, and the negative beliefs attached to it can shift toward something more accurate and self-compassionate.

The goal isn't to forget what happened. It's for the memory to stop hijacking your present.

What EMDR helps with

EMDR is well known for treating post-traumatic stress, but it's also used for the after-effects of difficult experiences people don't always label as "trauma"—painful relationships, loss, medical events, childhood experiences, and the anxiety or self-criticism that can follow.

What to expect with me

I never rush into processing. We begin by building safety and coping resources, so the deeper work always stays within what feels manageable. You remain in control of the pace, and you don't have to narrate every detail for EMDR to work. I also integrate the Trauma Resiliency Model, a body-based approach that helps settle the nervous system. EMDR can be done effectively over telehealth, so we can work together from anywhere in California.