EMDR - Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing

What is EMDR?

EMDR is a therapy designed for working with distressing or traumatic memories. The theory behind EMDR is that many psychological difficulties are the result of distressing life experiences which have not been stored in memory properly and are said to be unprocessed or blocked. These traumatic memories may need some help to become processed, and EMDR is one way to do this.

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Normal memories are stored by a part of the brain called the hippocampus. This is the library of the brain. However, some traumatic events are so overwhelming that the hippocampus doesn't do its job properly. When this happens, memories are stored in their raw, unprocessed form. These trauma memories are easily triggered, leading them to replay and cause distress over and over again.

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EMDR helps bleed off the emotions so the memories can be stored correctly.