The Science behind EMDR: 
How does it work?

The theory behind EMDR Therapy is that whenever you experience something negative or disturbing, body sensations, thoughts, self-beliefs, and images around the event are not able to be processed in a healthy way. They get "stuck", in a sense, so that even now as you are experiencing things in the present, your brain and body are reacting to this past traumatic or disturbing event. Your brain inherently has an Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) system that automatically integrates disturbing or traumatic memories into long term storage, but this process can get interrupted, leading to symptoms such as anxiety, depression, loss of creativity, disconnection from others, etc. Different areas of your brain can become disconnected from one another - that’s why you may “know” for example that you are an innovative and confident business woman, but you don’t believe it or feel it. EMDR Therapy can help you reprocess old experiences in a more adaptive way and help you integrate the memory so that you can live up to your potential.

Neurobiology

Different structures in your brain perform different functions, and should work together to ensure that every experience you have is moved through the AIP and stored in the appropriate memory network. Memory networks are responsible for perception, attitude, and behavior - in other words, extremely important in everyday functions and decision making. Memory networks can be implicit or explicit. Explicit memories include conscious events that are easily accessed, as well as factual information. Implicit memories are stored subconsciously and include automatic behaviors that you perform without thinking (such as tying your shoes or breathing). If you experience an event and perceive it (consciously or subconsciously) as disturbing, it may be stored in implicit memory where it cannot be connected to your AIP. Your implicit memory will store these negative body sensations, thoughts, beliefs, and images where they wait to cause problems.

To be efficient, your brain filters new, incoming experiences into already established memory networks. So if you have a poorly processed negative memory stored implicitly, and you experience something similar, your brain will automatically try to connect these two events and you will feel those negative sensations, emotions, and thoughts with this new experience. This can be very confusing and frustrating.

This is where EMDR comes in! Positive information, memories, and events are also stored in memory networks. Accessing this unintegrated, problematic memory with DAS moves it from implicit memory to explicit. All aspects of the memory shift in an adaptive way, and are linked permanently to positive information. Once this happens, your brain will associate a positive self-belief with this memory and you are free to take this newfound belief into the future with you.

Real-World Example

Jane is a 32 year-old woman living in Denver and is very passionate about mountain biking. 

Last year while biking, Jane fell and broke her arm. She needed surgery and physical therapy to recover, and has not been able to bike since. Although her doctors have given her the green light to return to her sport, every time she tries to get back on her bike, she feels fearful and hesitates. This is devastating for Jane, as she loves the hobby.

Jane experienced her accident as painful and scary, and this has created a subconscious self-belief of "I am weak". This belief is starting to creep into other areas of her life and is causing problems at her job.

Jane's brain has stored her accident in implicit memory, and whenever she thinks about trying to get back on her bike or even passes a bike store, she feels anxious, her arm starts to throb, and she has thoughts like "I suck".

Jane decides to begin EMDR Therapy. Her brain is able to move the memory from implicit to explicit, and she no longer believes "I am weak". Not only is the accident no longer disturbing when she thinks about it, she whole-heartedly believes "I'm strong" and is able to get back on her bike, even more confident and daring than before.