Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a mouthful. But if there ever was a magic wand for unsticking old stories (and unhealthy patterns), this may be it. Here’s the scoop.

Trauma lodges in the “fight or flight” folds of the body we cannot get to consciously, note trauma experts. So it must be derailed in surreptitious ways. Enter EMDR and its stepchild, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), also called “tapping.” They get below the storyline where the belief is anchored. 

These modalities work. Indeed, numerous scientific studies, including a 2011 study and a 2014 study by the National Institutes of Health, speak to the efficacy of EMDR. 

How EMDR Works

EMDR employs bi-lateral stimulation, such as tapping opposite arms, to reprogram the brain. The brain then sends new direction, and beliefs, to all the places in the body where trauma stubbornly holds onto the old story.

Bruce Lipton, MD and author of The Biology of Belief, defines this circuitry. The mind controls the body through the nervous system laced throughout the body, notes Lipton. 

When the nervous system perceives a threat, real or imagined, it puts the body on alert. The body, then, responds with a “flight or flight” readiness. (When I was younger, my body would break out in a sweat whenever I confronted someone like my dad.) EMDR short-circuits that alert system. Then, it reprograms it

What EMDR Looks Like in Action

“Tap your arms like so,” my therapist says, over Zoom. She hugs herself and taps her upper arms. I embrace myself and mimic her example.

“Now, close your eyes and sink into that memory. Remember what it felt like to hear your dad’s voice and his anger.” 

I do as I am told, and suddenly I am five years old and trying so hard to be good. But the shame—of not being good enough, and later pretty enough or smart enough or thin enough—fills every pore. The tears catch me off-guard. I am surprised how quickly they come, even now, after all these years.

But this is how the old stories and their outdated belief systems work. They get under your skin, literally, and hold on for dear life until new programs, such as EMDR, replace them.

But EMDR is not a panacea alone. It also demands that you go out in the world and enliven the new belief with behaviors. You book the massage. You end an unhealthy relationship. You speak up for yourself. In these acts, you begin to live your way into the new story. 

M. Carolyn Miller, MA, designs narrative- and game-based learning. She also writes and speaks about the power of story in our lives and world. www.cultureshape.com