Understanding how EMDR works to heal trauma can help you feel more confident about starting this transformative therapy. As a certified EMDR therapist in Seattle with additional training in somatic experiencing and trauma-focused approaches, I've seen how this evidence-based treatment creates profound healing by working with your brain's natural recovery processes.

The Neuroscience of Trauma

To understand how EMDR works, it's helpful to first understand what happens in your brain and body when you experience trauma. During a traumatic event, your brain's alarm system (the amygdala) takes over, flooding your body with stress hormones and activating your survival responses: fight, flight, or freeze.

In normal circumstances, your brain processes experiences during sleep, particularly during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. The experience gets filed away as a memory—something that happened in the past. But with trauma, this natural processing gets disrupted. The traumatic memory remains "frozen in time," unprocessed and unintegrated.

This is why trauma survivors often feel like they're reliving the experience. The memory hasn't been properly processed and stored, so when triggered, your brain and body react as if the trauma is happening right now. This can manifest as:

• Flashbacks and intrusive memories

• Nightmares

• Emotional flooding

• Physical sensations and pain

• Hypervigilance

• Avoidance behaviors

How EMDR Facilitates Natural Healing

EMDR works by mimicking the natural processing that happens during REM sleep. The bilateral stimulation (BLS) used in EMDR—whether through eye movements, taps, or sounds—appears to activate the same neural networks involved in memory processing during sleep.

During EMDR, we activate the traumatic memory network while simultaneously engaging in bilateral stimulation. This dual attention—focusing on the trauma while also attending to the present moment through BLS—seems to help the brain reprocess the stuck memory.

Think of it like a record that's been skipping on the same spot. EMDR helps the needle move past that stuck point, allowing the song to play through to completion. The memory doesn't disappear, but it loses its emotional intensity and becomes integrated into your life story as something that happened in the past.

The Adaptive Information Processing Model

EMDR is based on the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model, which suggests that our brains have a natural tendency toward healing and integration. When this system is working properly, we can experience difficult events and process them adaptively, learning and growing from the experience.

Trauma disrupts this adaptive processing. The overwhelming nature of traumatic experiences can cause information to be stored in a maladaptive, state-specific form. This means the memory is stored with all the emotions, physical sensations, and beliefs you had at the time of the trauma.

Through EMDR, we help your brain's information processing system get "unstuck." The bilateral stimulation appears to facilitate communication between the brain's hemispheres and activate the neural networks needed for adaptive processing.

My Integrated Trauma Approach

With my specialized training in multiple trauma modalities—including EMDR certification, Somatic Experiencing (Levels I-III), and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) through Harborview—I understand that healing trauma requires more than following a protocol. Each person's trauma is unique, and your treatment should be too.

Starting with Stabilization

Before we begin processing traumatic memories with EMDR, I ensure you have adequate internal resources. Drawing from my somatic experiencing training, I help you:

• Develop body awareness and recognize signs of activation

• Learn grounding techniques to stay present

• Build your capacity to tolerate difficult sensations

• Strengthen your "window of tolerance" for emotional experiences

This preparation is especially important if you have complex trauma or have been stuck in therapy before. My post-doctoral training at the Masterson Institute, specializing in attachment and neurobiology, informs how I help clients with developmental trauma prepare for EMDR.

The Processing Phase

When we begin processing traumatic memories, the bilateral stimulation helps your brain make new connections. You might notice:

• The memory becoming less vivid or feeling more distant

• Emotions shifting and releasing

• New insights or perspectives emerging

• Physical tension dissolving

• Negative beliefs about yourself changing

What makes my approach unique is the integration of somatic awareness throughout the process. As someone certified in trauma-sensitive yoga and trained in body-based therapies, I help you track not just thoughts and emotions, but also what's happening in your body during processing.

Why EMDR Works When Other Therapies Haven't

Many clients come to my Seattle practice after years of traditional talk therapy that hasn't fully resolved their trauma. They've gained insight and coping skills, but still feel triggered, anxious, or stuck in old patterns. EMDR works differently because it:

Targets the Root: Rather than just managing symptoms, EMDR addresses the traumatic memories at their source, reprocessing them at the neurological level.

Engages the Whole Brain: Unlike talk therapy, which primarily engages the verbal, logical parts of your brain, EMDR activates multiple brain regions including those that store sensory and emotional memories.

Works with Body Memory: Trauma isn't just stored in our thoughts—it's held in our bodies. EMDR's bilateral stimulation helps release trauma stored somatically.

Bypasses Cognitive Defenses: You don't need to analyze or make sense of your trauma intellectually. EMDR works at a deeper, more primal level of the brain.

The Role of Bilateral Stimulation

The bilateral stimulation in EMDR can take several forms:

• Eye movements: Following my finger or a light bar back and forth

• Tactile: Alternating taps or vibrations in your hands

• Auditory: Alternating sounds in headphones

Research suggests that bilateral stimulation:

• Reduces activity in the amygdala (fear center)

• Increases activity in the prefrontal cortex (rational thinking)

• Facilitates communication between brain hemispheres

• Activates the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest)

Complex Trauma and EMDR

While EMDR was initially developed for single-incident trauma, it's also effective for complex, developmental trauma when properly adapted. My training in attachment theory and personality disorders through the Masterson Institute informs how I modify EMDR for clients with complex trauma histories.

For complex trauma, we might:

• Spend more time in the preparation phase

• Process trauma in smaller chunks

• Focus on building positive resources before addressing trauma

• Use modified protocols that account for dissociation

• Integrate other modalities like somatic experiencing more heavily

Measuring Progress in EMDR

One of the remarkable aspects of EMDR is how we can measure progress objectively. We use the Subjective Units of Disturbance (SUD) scale to track how disturbing a memory feels, and the Validity of Cognition (VOC) scale to measure how true positive beliefs feel.

Clients often report:

• Decreased emotional intensity when recalling the trauma

• Fewer or no physical symptoms when triggered

• Ability to think about the event without feeling overwhelmed

• Spontaneous insights and new perspectives

• Improved sleep and fewer nightmares

• Greater sense of empowerment and self-worth

The Lasting Effects of EMDR

What makes EMDR particularly powerful is that the changes tend to be permanent. Once a memory has been fully processed, it typically stays processed. The neural networks have been rewired, and the adaptive resolution remains stable over time.

This doesn't mean you'll forget what happened or that it won't still be a sad or difficult memory. But it will no longer have the power to hijack your nervous system and throw you into a state of panic or despair.

Is EMDR Right for Your Trauma?

EMDR can be effective for various types of trauma:

• Single-incident trauma (accidents, assaults, medical procedures)

• Complex developmental trauma

• Attachment trauma

• Birth trauma

• Vicarious trauma

• Collective or intergenerational trauma

If you're wondering whether EMDR could help with your specific trauma, I offer a free 15-minute consultation where we can discuss your situation and determine the best approach for your healing.