EMDR Therapy in Austin, TX

During assessment for EMDR, your therapist will assess your background to make sure EMDR is a good fit for you during their history taking. The DES-II is also given as a means of assessing dissociative experiences which can be associated with trauma. There may need to be some stabilization work that is done prior to initiating EMDR, like DBT, Somatic Experiencing, or grounding exercises.

EMDR was discovered by Francine Shapiro, Ph.D. in 1987. She was walking through a park noticing the trees on either side of the path she was on. She realized that the eye movements seemed to decrease the negative emotion associated with her own distressing memories she was thinking about.

She began to experiment with the eye movements to see if they did, in fact, decrease negative feelings. She found that others had the same response but later added other components to the treatment to make it a more comprehensive treatment. She also found that other forms of bilateral stimulation can produce the same beneficial results.

There have been hundreds of studies done on the effectiveness of EMDR showing how effective it is in treating: Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, childhood trauma, helping with recovery, and phobias (to name a few).

• A 2024 systematic review asserts that over 30 randomized clinical trials (RCTs) affirm EMDR’s efficacy for adults with PTSD (Wiley)
• A 2018 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) review of 10 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) concluded that there is moderate-grade evidence supporting EMDR for reducing PTSD symptoms and even achieving loss of PTSD diagnosis. (VA.GOV)

A 2024 meta-analysis confirmed EMDR’s effectiveness for treating depression, particularly in severe cases (PubMed

One of the first steps in the EMDR process is learning tools that can help when unpleasant or upsetting feelings come up between sessions. These are part of the preparation phase and it helps to create a safe container. It is very important that you have the tools to deal with any unpleasant memories or feelings that might come up so these are an important part of the preparation process before getting into any upsetting memories.

EMDR has proven to be an extremely efficient method of processing traumas, big and small. However, each person is unique and therefore the length of time will vary greatly. Most reports find EMDR to be faster than other methods of “trauma” resolution.

During processing, you briefly bring a memory into your working memory while engaging in bilateral stimulation (eye movements, taps, or tones). This combination “overloads” the working memory, which reduces the power of the distressing or maladaptive parts of the memory.

This may sound simple and there is a protocol that the therapist is using to administer the treatment and there is a lot of nuance that goes into doing this well. That’s why it helps to work with someone who is well trained in EMDR and not someone who just does it occasionally.

Sometimes clients feel emotional during this process, but just as often they experience a sense of clarity or relief. One of the things many people prefer about EMDR is that you don’t have to talk about the details of the memory while you’re processing—it works without having to rehash everything out loud.

EMDR can be very effective for a wide range of anxieties. Most often we see people seeking support for:

• PTSD
• Generalized anxiety disorder
• Social anxiety

EMDR is a wonderful medium for working with a wide variety of things, and you can quickly tell if it’s helping. Research shows better efficacy than treating someone with medication alone, especially over time.

EMDR has shown promise—multiple RCTs demonstrate significant symptom reduction in anxiety disorders, though the number of studies is smaller and methods vary; effect sizes are moderate to large.