EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing) — what it means

A trauma-focused therapy (Shapiro, 1987) using bilateral stimulation — eye movements, tapping, or tones — while recalling distressing memories, to help the nervous system reprocess them.

What it looks like

You hold the memory of the incident in mind while the therapist moves a finger left-right across your visual field for ~30 seconds. You report what you notice. Repeated over sessions, the memory loses its physiological charge — you can think about it without the body re-enacting the threat.

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