EMDR

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing.

It is a form of psychotherapy developed in the late 1980s designed
to alleviate the distress associated with traumatic memories. Some
key things to know about EMDR:

1. It involves the patient focusing on the traumatic memory while

simultaneously doing lateral eye movements (following the
therapist's finger back and forth) or tapping. This is believed to help
stimulate the brain's processing of the traumatic memory to
adaptively integrate it.
2. Sessions are very structured and involve identifying the specific
traumatic memory to target, assessing aspects like vividness and
emotional disturbance level before and after sets of bilateral
stimulation, etc.
3. The goal is to process aspects of the traumatic memory that are
stuck or frozen and integrate them, so the memory becomes less
disturbing and the negative beliefs associated with it change.
4. Numerous studies have demonstrated EMDR to be effective for
post-traumatic stress disorder. It is recommended as an evidence-
based treatment by organizations like the World Health
Organization.
5. The full treatment usually involves preparation for reprocessing the
memories, reprocessing the most distressing events using the
bilateral stimulation, then teaching the client techniques to self-
soothe if memories come up again in the future once treatment
concludes.

So in short, EMDR aims to help people process and integrate

traumatic memories and their negative effects through a structured
approach using eye movements or taps during memory recall.
Research supports its use, especially for PTSD.