Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

If you have gone through some traumatic event (be it a traffic accident, abuse or something seemingly less important, such as having been humiliated), the memory of your experience may come back to your mind, forcing you to revive the original event with the same intensity and feeling, as if it was happening in the present moment.
These experiences that arise in your consciousness can occur either as flashbacks or as nightmares and are due to the fact that the mind was too overwhelmed during the event to process what was happening.

As a result, these unprocessed memories and everything that accompanied them, sounds, thoughts, and feelings, are stored in the brain so that they can be accessed every time we experience something that triggers the memories of the original event.


While it is not possible to erase these memories, the clinical psychologist Dr. Norman Goldwasser explains that the process of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) can alter the way in which these traumatic memories are stored in the brain, making them easier to handle and causing less pain.

What is EMDR?

As we learned from Dr. Norman Goldwasser, the Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (more commonly known as EMDR) is a form of psychotherapy developed in the 1980s by the American psychologist Francine Shapiro.

During a walk in the park, Shapiro casually came to the conclusion that certain eye movements seemed to reduce the negative emotion associated with traumatic memories. When she has done some experiments with this, it was found that others also showed a similar response to eye movements. That is why she devoted herself to conducting controlled studies before developing a multi-phased approach to trauma reduction.

Nowadays, this therapy is used to treat a wide range of psychological problems that usually originate in trauma, such as direct or indirect experiences of violence, accidents or natural disasters. As the experienced psychologist, Dr. Norman Goldwasser further explains, EMDR therapy is also used to treat the anguish that originates in shock, vital loss and/or problems experienced during childhood. The experiences described above often lead to a diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Increasingly, EMDR therapy is also used to treat other issues, such as:

• Depression

• Anxiety

• Phobias and fears

• Low self-esteem

The reported benefits of EMDR include:

• A reduction in re-experiencing memories of the trauma.

• Feel more capable of dealing with and managing memories of trauma without having to avoid potential triggers.

• Feel more able to participate and enjoy pleasurable activities and relationships.

• Reduce feelings of stress, anxiety, irritation and hypervigilance, which allow you to rest better.

• Reduce feelings of isolation, hopelessness and depression.

• An increase in self-confidence and self-esteem.

How does the EMDR method work?

As Dr Norman Goldwasser shares in his articles on Medium, when traumatic events occur, the cognitive and neurological coping mechanisms of the body can be overwhelmed. Later, the traumatic memories of the event will be stored in an isolated network.

According to Dr Norman Goldwasser (read his biography), the objective of EMDR therapy is to adequately process these traumatic memories, which reduces their impact and helps clients to develop adaptive mechanisms. This is done through an eight-phase approach to address the past, present and future aspects of a stored memory, which requires clients to remember painful events while receiving bilateral sensory information, including lateral eye movements.