What is EMDR Therapy?

Amy Bassett-Wells M.Ed., LPC

Therapy-Tree Mental Health Counseling

Trauma Informed Care Across Texas

What is EMDR?

If you’re exploring therapy and keep hearing the term EMDR, you’re not alone. You may be wondering, “What is EMDR, and do I need it?” In this blog, I will break it down in a way that hopefully feels accessible and not too clinical.

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It’s a type of therapy that helps people process overwhelming or stuck experiences — especially trauma, anxiety, or painful memories that just don’t seem to go away, no matter how much time passes.

Instead of retelling your story over and over, EMDR gently helps your brain and body reprocess those memories so they lose their emotional charge. They can still be part of your story, but they stop running the show.

How Does It Actually Work?

During EMDR sessions, I’ll guide you to bring up a memory or feeling (in a safe and contained way), while doing something called bilateral stimulation — often side-to-side eye movements, tapping, or tones. It sounds strange at first, but it’s based on how your brain processes information naturally, especially during sleep.

We don’t push or force anything. We go at your pace.

Over time, that distressing memory starts to feel more distant, less sharp. Many clients describe a shift from “this is happening to me” to “this happened, and I’m okay now.”

Who is EMDR Helpful For?

You don’t have to have a single “big T” trauma for EMDR to help. EMDR can support people who are working through:

• Childhood wounds or attachment injuries

• Relationship trauma or betrayal

• Anxiety or panic

• Grief and complicated loss

• Medical trauma

• Ongoing emotional overwhelm

If you’ve ever felt like “I know it’s in the past, but I still feel it like it’s happening right now” — EMDR might be worth exploring.

What to Expect in a Session

The first few sessions are about building trust, learning grounding tools, and getting clear on your goals. I’ll never rush the process. We’ll only begin EMDR reprocessing when you feel ready and resourced.

You stay fully awake and in control throughout. We pause whenever needed. EMDR is not about reliving trauma — it’s about freeing you from it.

EMDR can be just as successful through virtual therapy as it is in person. I will send you a link to an bilateral stimulation program that you will use as I guide you through the therapy. You will either follow a moving ball across the screen, listen to audio noises in each ear one by one, or use tapping on both sides of your body. While you are using both sides of your brain as you recount a distressing event, your brain is able to process the memory and release the body's trauma response.

EMDR with Therapy-Tree

Healing doesn't mean forgetting. It means the pain doesn’t take up as much space anymore.

At Therapy-Tree, I offer EMDR sessions via telehealth for clients all across Texas. If you’re curious about whether it’s right for you, I’d be happy to chat and see what support would be the best fit.