EMDR Therapy for Anxiety: How It Works and Who It Helps

It’s likely you’ve heard of EMDR before, even if you don’t know exactly what it is. And if you have heard of it, odds are you’ve heard it’s commonly used for processing trauma.

Whether you’ve heard about it or not, EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It is a highly effective form of therapy that uses bilateral stimulation (eye movements, tapping, tones, etc.) to process difficult memories and change the way they are stored in the brain in order to reduce distress.

Side note: I know it’s a bit odd that moving your eyes back and forth can help with something like this. I was skeptical myself before I went through the training and saw how effective EMDR can be. (You can dive into the research here and learn more about EMDR here.)