What exactly is EMDR therapy?
EMDR therapy, AKA Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing, is a unique kind of therapy that helps people deal with unprocessed body sensations, thoughts, and feelings from distressing and traumatic memories. It's all about helping you process the distress of trauma by having you bring to mind the moments doing something else at the same time, like following a pattern of eye movements led by the therapist. This approach taps into the brain's own way of healing, making those old memories less painful to think about or live with. It's a bit like reprogramming your brain to reduce the emotional impact of those past experiences.
How is EMDR different to other therapies?
With EMDR therapy, there's no requirement to delve deeply into discussing the distressing issues or do homework between sessions. Instead of trying to tweak how you feel, think, or act about the tough stuff, EMDR lets your brain get back to its own way of healing through sorting things out. This therapy is all about dealing with those sticky, unprocessed memories that just won't leave you alone. The cool part? A lot of people find they don't need as many sessions as they might with other types of therapy.
What does EMDR do to my brain?
Our brains are pretty awesome and skilled at getting over tough times and bad memories. They do this through a team effort: the amygdala (which hits the panic button when things get stressful), the hippocampus (helps us learn from the past, like what's safe and what's not), and the prefrontal cortex (the centre of behaviour and feelings). Usually, our brains can sort through and heal from difficult and distressing experiences on their own, like how the body can heal from cuts or an injury. But sometimes, our brain needs a bit of a nudge.
Feeling super stressed is just our body's way of deciding whether to stay and deal with the problem [AKA flight], run away [AKA Flee], or freeze up [AKA, you guessed it: freeze]. HOWEVER, when the stress from a bad memory sticks around, it can make you feel like you're stuck right back in that awful moment, and that the memory and distress is frozen in place. EMDR therapy steps in to help your brain work through those stuck memories, so your brain's natural healing can kick back into gear. You'll still remember what happened, but it won't send you into panic, fight, flight, or freeze, fall or fawn mode anymore.
Who can benefit from EMDR therapy?
EMDR therapy is for everyone – kids, teens, adults, couples and even families. EMDR is a well researched therapy and accredited therapists use it to tackle all sorts of stuff such as:
EMDR FAQs
Isn't EMDR only for PTSD?
Nope, EMDR isn't just for one thing. It's actually pretty good at helping with a bunch of issues that might come from trauma and difficult times, whether those happened when you were a kid, a teen, or an adult. We're talking anxiety, fears, feeling really down, dealing with a big loss, and even struggles with addiction.​
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How many sessions will I need?
​How many EMDR sessions you need changes from person to person. It all depends on what you're dealing with. Some memories might clear up after just a couple of sessions, like 2 or 3, but other times, especially with really complicated stuff or things that have been around for a long time, you might need 10 sessions or even more. And if you've had a really rough go of it with ongoing trauma or abuse from way back, EMDR might be part of a bigger mix of therapy stuff that goes on for a longer stretch.
Does EMDR work for neurodivergent people?
EMDR is a great fit for neurodivergent folks because it's both structured and flexible, perfect for those with unique traits like alexithymia, aphantasia, or sensory differences. As ND therapists, we use EMDR in a ND affirming way because life throws some extra curveballs for ND folx - like dealing with bullying, feeling out of place, or getting overwhelmed by the world's sensory overload. These experiences can be really tough, leading to trauma, burnout, or just feeling stuck in certain patterns. Neurodivergent-affirming EMDR helps process these experiences in a way that celebrates neurodivergent brains, offering a chance to move forward with a sense of freedom and acceptance of unique ways of being. It's all about reprocessing on your own terms, without having to squeeze into a neuro-normative box.
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How do I start
You can book in a session with our EMDR therapists who will explain the process as well as what to expect from EMDR for your situation and experiences.
