EMDR THERAPY

Getting Unstuck and Moving Forward

Certain memories still hijack you. Old triggers knock you sideways. You react in ways you can't control—anxiety, panic, intrusive thoughts, emotional shutdown. You might understand why this happens, but understanding hasn't changed it.

EMDR therapy works differently. Instead of just talking about what happened, it helps you process unresolved experiences at the level where they're actually stored—in your body and nervous system.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is an evidence-based therapy originally developed for trauma and PTSD. It's also highly effective for anxiety, depression, OCD, relational wounds, shame, and chronic reactivity. Through EMDR, old triggers lose their grip, stuck patterns begin to shift, and you can move forward with more freedom and emotional resilience.

WHAT EMDR CAN HELP WITH

When painful experiences aren't fully processed, they get stored in the nervous system in ways that keep triggering you. Anxiety, intrusive thoughts, emotional reactivity, shame spirals—these patterns often have roots in unprocessed experiences that your brain and body haven't been able to integrate.

EMDR treatment helps you process these experiences so they stop running your life.

In my practice, I use EMDR therapy to help clients with:

• Trauma and PTSD

• Complex trauma (childhood/developmental trauma)

• Anxiety and panic

• Depression

• OCD and intrusive thoughts

• Chronic shame and negative self-beliefs

• Relationship struggles and attachment wounds

• Emotional overwhelm and dysregulation

• Low self-esteem

• Grief and loss

If you're stuck in patterns that won't shift through understanding alone, EMDR offers a different way to heal.

HOW EMDR WORKS

EMDR was developed in the late 1980s by psychologist Francine Shapiro to help people heal from trauma. Today it's one of the most researched and effective treatments for PTSD, and it's widely used for many other struggles rooted in unprocessed experiences.

Here's what makes it different: EMDR doesn't rely on talking through your story over and over. Instead, it uses bilateral stimulation—typically eye movements, tapping, or sounds—to help you process difficult material while staying grounded in the present moment.

The neuroscience behind EMDR is still being studied, but there are several leading theories about why bilateral stimulation helps. It may keep one foot in the present while accessing the past, allowing safer processing. It may tax working memory, reducing the vividness and emotional intensity of distressing memories. It may facilitate integration across brain hemispheres. Or it could be a combination of these mechanisms.

What we know from research and clinical practice is that it works. Memories that used to trigger intense emotional and physical reactions lose their charge. Your nervous system stops treating old experiences as current threats. You can think about what happened without your body going into panic mode.

In practice, this means actual change—not just intellectual understanding. A memory that used to send you into panic might become something you can think about without your heart racing. A trigger that used to derail your whole day might lose its grip. Your body's alarm system recalibrates, so you're not constantly braced for danger.

You're not just understanding what happened—you're changing how your brain and body respond to it.

WHAT TO EXPECT IN EMDR THERAPY

EMDR is a structured approach, but if it's implemented in a robotic, one-size-fits-all way, it falls flat. EMDR isn't something a therapist does to you—it's collaborative. We work together. If protective parts show up, we don't push through—we work with them. If something doesn't feel right, we adjust. The protocol provides structure, but the relationship and attunement to what you need in the moment is what makes it effective.

We start by building a foundation—getting to know each other, exploring what's keeping you stuck, and developing skills for grounding and emotional regulation so you feel supported as we begin the deeper work.

When we move into processing, we work with one memory, experience, or belief at a time. You stay connected to the present moment while processing difficult material, and we move at a pace that feels manageable.

In early sessions, we focus on preparation. This isn't busywork—it's building the foundation that makes deeper processing possible. We'll work on grounding techniques, developing resources you can draw on when things get activating, and identifying target memories or beliefs to work with. You won't be thrown into processing traumatic material before you're ready.

During EMDR reprocessing sessions, you'll focus on a specific memory, belief, or body sensation while following bilateral stimulation—typically my fingers moving side to side, tapping, or audio tones. You're not trying to do anything. You're just noticing what comes up—images, thoughts, emotions, body sensations—while staying anchored in the present moment. Between sets of bilateral stimulation, we check in briefly about what you're noticing, then continue.

The experience varies. Some people report vivid imagery. Others notice shifts in their body or emotions without much visual content. Some sessions feel intense; others feel surprisingly undramatic. What matters isn't how it feels in the moment—it's whether the memory loses its charge, whether your nervous system stops treating the past as present danger.

Between EMDR sessions, you might notice changes: sleeping better, feeling less reactive, old triggers not hitting as hard. Or you might need time to integrate what was processed. Either way, we move at a pace that feels sustainable.

Many clients notice gradual shifts: less reactivity to old triggers, more emotional resilience, feeling more grounded and present. The goal isn't just symptom relief—it's helping you move through what's been keeping you stuck so you can actually live differently.

MY BACKGROUND WITH EMDR

I completed EMDRIA-approved EMDR training in 2025, integrating it into a practice already grounded in trauma-focused and depth-oriented work through ISTDP, IFS, and my research in psychedelic-assisted therapies. EMDR treatment offers a way to work with somatic, subcortical material—the stuff that doesn't respond to insight alone. I use it when it makes sense, always prioritizing what's going to be most effective for you.

COMMON QUESTIONS ABOUT EMDR

Is EMDR weird or woo-woo?

The eye movements can feel strange at first, but EMDR is one of the most researched therapies out there. It's recommended by the World Health Organization, the American Psychiatric Association, and the Department of Veterans Affairs for treating trauma. The bilateral stimulation is just a tool to help your brain do what it's naturally designed to do—process and integrate experiences.

How long does EMDR take?

It depends. Some people experience major shifts within a few sessions—especially when working with a specific traumatic event. Others need months, particularly if they're addressing complex trauma or multiple stuck patterns. EMDR often works faster than traditional talk therapy for processing discrete traumatic memories, but healing isn't linear and everyone's timeline is different.

Do I have to relive traumatic memories?

No. EMDR doesn't require you to describe traumatic experiences in detail. You access the memory enough to work with it, but you're not reliving it. The bilateral stimulation helps you stay grounded while processing, so it's less overwhelming than simply recounting what happened.

How is EMDR different from regular therapy?

Talk therapy focuses on insight, understanding, and developing coping strategies. That's valuable—but it works primarily at the level of conscious thought and narrative. EMDR works at the level where trauma is actually stored: in your nervous system, in implicit memory, in the automatic reactions your body has before your thinking brain even gets involved.

In regular therapy, you might spend months talking about a traumatic event, understanding it from every angle, developing ways to manage the symptoms. In EMDR treatment, you process the memory in a way that changes how it's stored—so the symptoms often reduce or resolve without needing ongoing management. It's not that one approach is better; they work at different levels. Sometimes you need both.

Is EMDR right for everyone?

EMDR therapy is highly effective for many people, but it's not always the right fit. It works best when:

• You have specific memories or experiences contributing to current symptoms

• You're able to tolerate some level of emotional activation (with support)

• You're willing to engage in an active, experiential process

EMDR might not be the best first step if you're in active crisis, dealing with severe dissociation, or if your life circumstances are too unstable to do deeper trauma work safely. In those cases, we'd focus on stabilization first—or I'd refer you to a different approach that better fits where you are.

READY TO MOVE FORWARD?

If you're ready to stop being hijacked by old triggers and actually move through what's keeping you stuck, let's talk.

I offer EMDR therapy in McLean, Virginia, and online throughout Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.

Contact me and we'll figure out if this is the right approach for you.

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